


Rewritten Empress Arcana: Early Romance

by MintStory



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Crushes, Developing Relationship, F/M, Fluff, I'm playing it safe and rating M for one scene in specific, Kissing, Lots of kissing, Mutual Pining, Past Abuse, Romance, Secret Relationship, Strong Language, but only briefly, oh yeah late game spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:14:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 25,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22723021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MintStory/pseuds/MintStory
Summary: After learning of each other's feelings shortly after the post-festival party, Akira and Haru are tasked with dealing with the aftermath of the fallout of Okumura Foods, only now as a couple instead.
Relationships: Amamiya Ren/Okumura Haru, Kurusu Akira/Okumura Haru, Okumura Haru/Persona 5 Protagonist
Comments: 36
Kudos: 247





	1. Chapter 1

The music faded and dancers bowed and curtsied for their applauding small crowd and scurried offstage as the somehow-still-very-enthusiastic emcee reclaimed his spot. “That was a great performance by the dance club! Everybody give them another round of applause!”

The crowd of dwindling number and fervency clapped again and the gymnasium grew silent as the emcee made preparations for the next event of the festival. Haru, with Akira at her side, took the newfound silence as an opportunity to sigh.

It seemed the rest of the team had retired for the evening after the celebrity high school detective made a questionable deal with them. Akira could not blame them for doing so; Akechi did demand a lot. Their hands went from being full after the passing of Kunikazu Okumura to being tied thanks to him.

Before Akira could decide to follow suit with the others and return home, his phone alerted him twice. One, a request to spend time at the gymnasium from Ryuji. The other, a similar request from Haru. As much fun as he knows hanging out with Ryuji to be, there can be no dispute how turbulent life has been for the soft-natured third-year. Between her father’s borderline public execution, having to keep up with the company as it scrambles to heal its public image, along with the knowledge that she and the closest friends she has made in years may be arrested for killing her father if Akechi so much as pleases it must take a toll on one. It feels like an obligation to be there for Haru.

Along with the need to support her, on some perhaps selfish level, he wants to. She is so undeniably lovely in his eyes. Kind, beautiful, meek, caring, and filled with a natural joy despite how remarkably poorly life has treaded her from the very start. She needs someone to be on her side, he feels.

As far as reaching out went, Haru found messaging to ask Akira for his time to be worrisome. She had gone through with it once before, yet it never ceased to feel as though she was overstepping her boundaries. She cannot deny to herself anymore that she harbors romantic feelings for him; surely someone as dashing, smart and nice as he must have other priorities. All the same, being nosy may become off-putting, or worse, tip him off to said feelings. Such trepidation, along with the fear that a wrong step in even a platonic relationship may negatively impact the group has led her to a level of reclusiveness that she dislikes, but knows is necessary.

_How nice…_ She imagines, fleetingly, _…it would be to just forget everything and retreat into his kind arms for a night…_ She lightly shakes her head to rid the thought from her mind.

“I’m sorry,” She then turns to him to say, hoping to ease the heavy air about them. “I can’t stop thinking about what Akechi-kun said…”

“It’ll be alright.” She already has enough to deal with, he surmises. She can leave the worrying to him.

She breaks out a small laugh which warms his heart. “It feels like nothing bad could ever happen when you say that.”

Before a response was due, the emcee took back up the microphone for the next event. “And now it’s time for your favorite Shujin tradition: the Student Sharing Special! Round of applause, everyone!”

“Sharing? I never knew we had such an event.” Haru felt intrigued. Despite having never been to one of Shujin’s post-festival parties, she figured she would have at least heard of something like a tradition.

“Alright, who has something to say? Anyone, anyone…? No?” A wonder that he expected such a clearly bored crowd to jump at the offer. “I’ll just have to pick someone then.”

“Oh, he’s going to choose?” She murmured to herself, beginning to call into question whether this tradition was legitimately a crowd favorite.

“How about that fluffy-haired girl over there? I choose you!”

Haru jumped in place, feeling her heart beat faster. She looked across the audience peppered in the seats of the auditorium, all of them looking at her—the emcee’s pick. “He’s talking to me… isn’t he?”

“It’s ‘cause you’re cute.” Akira readily suggested.

“Oh!” Haru felt her heart rate kick up further and heat rise to her cheeks.

If not for the emcee beckoning, she might have asked him right then and there if he feels the same way she does. Instead, she simply told him she was heading up to the stage. He nods to her with the same grin he gave her while quipping—in the most truthful way possible—that she must have been picked since she is cute. On the way up, he grabs a seat in the front row to watch.

“And your name is—wait, you’re Okumura-san!?” The emcee only realized just then.

“Um…yes.” Haru tentatively speaks into the microphone. At least her introduction was out of the way.

“U-Uhhh… I’m sure you’re, um… still grieving…” He stutters out, recognizing how he had really shot himself in the foot by calling her up. “My, um… deepest apologies…”

“Oh, please don’t worry.” Haru says to him, hoping not to make her inclusion in the tradition a pity party.

“So, uh, do you have something you’d like to share with us?” The emcee asks.

“Hmm… Something to share…” Haru ponders aloud. Knowing this to be the most turbulent chapter of her life and all of the supernatural occurrences therein, she realizes she can hardly answer such a question in a satisfactory manner. “I have too many things.”

“Err… Here, let me give you a question then…” The emcee scrambles for a topic as he sees more of the crowd leaving the auditorium and comes up with something absentmindedly. “Do you think the Phantom Thieves are really Shujin students?”

Akira gasps as the crowd comes alive at the question. The emcee had unknowingly just laid Haru a path to life in prison for all of them. The subject needed to change, and fast at that.

“I mean, they are… uh… your father’s killers.” The emcee gained some of his footing again with the attention of the crowd once more. “We’re all dying to know what Akechi-kun was going to say about their true identities. What do you think, Okumura-san?”

“Erm… well…”

“Please date me!” Shooting up from his seat and yelling to garner the vicinity’s attention, Akira stared right upstage to make no mistake what he meant.

“What!?” Haru shouted into the microphone, looking down to see none other than the charming boy who has her heart confessing right below her feet. And for all the wrong reasons.

The emcee reclaims all of his lost power from before the sharing special as he hones in on the new excitement in his comfort zone. “Ohooo! Like a hot knife through butter, a proposal cuts the silence!”

He pores through the audience at a blazing speed to identify whoever could have just called, soon finding a rosy-cheeked Akira in the front row. “I think it was him!”

“W-Wait…!” She exclaims, covering her face with her hands and hoping dearly the emcee would drop the subject so she could not slip up in front of Akira.

“So, Okumura-san, what’s your relation to this guy?”

“Th-That wasn’t what we were talking about!” Haru shakes her head, embarrassed beyond belief.

“My, she’s quite flustered! Is this a hot scoop?” He captures the rumor-driven Shujin audience again before offering mercy for Haru finally, “But I’m a gentleman. It hurts my heart to bully such a sweet girl.”

_Some gentleman you are, asking her who could have killed the only parent she had only two weeks after the fact…_ Akira scoffed in his head.

“Well, did you all enjoy our blushing beauty? Thank you very much, Okumura-san.” The emcee gave the audience the cue to clap. Haru looks out on the crowd and sees Akira motioning for her, pointing upwards with his thumb and making a digging motion. She nods to him to signal understanding before she steps off and talks with a few students at the base of the stage who wanted to ask or say something.

Exhausted from the impromptu show he made of himself and Haru, Akira finds himself alone on the rooftop with her planters. They remind him of her. How kind, gentle and sweet she is and also how determined she is, too. He pulls up one of the abandoned chairs that live on the roof, sits down and sighs. The planters remind him again. A sweetheart with a life lined with tragedy, comparable to a flower in a warzone, or even a tomato growing in the harsh conditions of a rooftop in the largest city in the country. His own parents were never ones to dote or pay him much attention if he was not directly in front of them, yet he knows they love him. He would be devastated to lose either of them. He could not begin to imagine how hard it must be for one’s last parent to die, dubious as to if he or she loves them. This, Haru will never get to know. Even after she struggled with him for years, putting up with indifference, coming in a distant second to his prestigious title, even accepting a political marriage to receive a sliver of his appreciation. None of that worked, the damage to her life caught up, and her most promising attempt to mend their relationship in her despair killed him.

_How can she still smile?_

If he had no self-control, he would want nothing more than to take her somewhere safe, hold her close, tell her everything is going to be alright and show her that she is loved by somebody. The want is tampered with by uncertainty. The worst case would be him becoming another selfish man in her life or a new worry. She had already gotten so far without anyone in the first place that maybe his presence would prove ultimately burdensome. All the same, keeping face for her remained a priority and he hardens his resolve to be there for her, even while he wishes she could be his.

The door to the roof swings open. As loud as ever, but gentler as Haru steps out onto the rooftop. Akira stands up to go talk with her.

“Oh, I could grab a chair if you want to sit and talk.” Haru offers.

“It’s okay, I have a Sojiro to get back to soon anyway.” He responds with a weak smile.

“Well, the post-festival party is finally over,” Haru says sounding tired in tone. “It turned out to be more like an interview party, huh?”

Akira grimaces after thinking again about how offish the emcee could be, asking for an opinion on what was practically gossip to someone in mourning all in front of a crowd. He shakes his head lightly and sees Haru gazing down at the floor.

“I still can’t believe you said that…” She looks up at Akira for a response.

“I couldn’t ignore you; you were in trouble up there.” He replies.

_“Please date me!”_ Haru replayed the words in her head. In truth, she had always wanted to hear something like that from Akira, though not necessarily after an overbearing emcee had picked the most stutter-y Phantom Thief to ask if she thought the Phantom Thieves were her classmates.

“Right…” Her voice was a mixture of thankfulness and disappointment. “At any rate, I’m not sure what I would have done without you.”

A brief moment of silence befell the two, their eyes connected for the whole way through. Akira considers confessing right there. He could say, “You don’t have to be without me,” or “Good thing I love you, then,” or maybe, “Then let’s be sweethearts.” Of course, he knows exactly why not. Too early, a lack of necessity, him being selfish. Both to not further complicate her life and for the sake of being thorough he should not, even if he feels as though he has always loved her.

“Thank you for saving me,” Her beautiful, perfect lips formed her cutest smile yet while speaking in her adorable joyous way. His heart raced. “You’re such a mysterious person, but you’re so reliable.”

_Never mind. The hell with procedure._ Akira declares in his head. _What happens, happens._

“You know…” He said out loud, immediately realizing none of the previously thought ways of confessing make sense anymore in this scenario. He scrambles for something to say until it dawns upon him: he already confessed, it was just dubious as to the sincerity. “…I was serious about what I shouted in the gym.”

She gives the adorable gasp-squeak that he loves and Akira swears he could have died happy right then. With wide eyes she seeks confirmation, “R-Really?”

He nods with a soft affirmative grunt and an embarrassingly hard to control smile.

“I-If I’m being honest…” She collects herself to speak, “…I thought it had to be just me… but, you a-actually like me back?”

“I’ve hoped the feeling was mutual for a while now.”

“It is, Akira-kun!” She presses her hands to her cheeks in a hopeless attempt to conceal her reddening blush. “And to answer what you said, of course I’d date you!”

He opens his arms for her and she nestles herself in snugly, digging her head into his chest. He holds her a bit more gently than she does him, and runs one hand through her curls.

While this is the first embrace they have shared as lovers, on many levels and perhaps the most wonderful part is that it feels far from a new experience. It compares better with arriving home. To a house they never knew they had. After a lifetime on the road.

The embrace loosens slightly when Haru remembers, “I…um…bought this for you earlier…” She reaches into her baggy sweater pocket to fetch a piece of candy, Sakura Amezaiku in specific, she purchased at the post-festival party.

“It looks delicious.” He receives the candy with a warm smile.

“I…I’m glad.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t get anything for you.” A word of forgiveness forms on Haru’s lips, though before she can utter a word, Akira interrupts her. “Well, actually…”

His hand cradles her face and it drives her heart up the wall. Haru’s face starts burning up as Akira’s gets close.

“May I?” He asks.

She gives him nod somehow both bashful and eager with a mouthed, “Please.”

Their lips meet. Heaven and earth collide. The encounter comprises a few overexcited, nervous and clumsy tussles. Yet, everything about it is perfect. From the softness Akira uses to stroke her cheek with his thumb to how Haru cannot help but giggle in between kisses. The doors to each other’s hearts swing wide open, welcoming in the other’s beautiful soul. Shared emotion that neither knew about until taking to the roof envelop them both in a wave of pure and unbridled bliss.

Slowly, as if to indulge in the euphoria for as long as possible, they break. Both are still locked in an embrace and their faces are just barely separated. Either one could plant a new kiss simply by matter of moving forward a few inches. Haru wills herself to speak through her ecstasy. “I-I think my heart is ready to burst…”

“Might want to get used to it, sweetheart. There’s more where that came from.” He teases before pressing his lips to her forehead.

“If it means every kiss with you feels this way…” She admits, “…I, um, n-never want to get used to it.”

Akira smiles as his heart melts anew.

“Akira…thank you…”

“Hm? What for?”

“Just about everything today…” She half-whispers, “…From spending time with me, helping me calm down about what happened with Akechi-kun, c-calling me…cute when the emcee picked me…”

She giggles and pulls him closer before continuing her list.

“…saving me from slipping up badly on the stage, and, um, this.” She hugs him tighter. “I would have been satisfied simply spending time with all of my friends this event, but…you made it so much more. I don’t know how I could thank you enough.”

Akira chuckles. “Your affection is more than enough thanks.”

Haru buries her head into his chest with a coo and wordlessness falls over them again. Just holding the other in their arms and letting their warmth and proximity speak the volumes that they do. The thought of maintaining the embrace for the rest of the night was tempting. Alas, the already dark sky from when she stepped onto the roof had darkened further. She also concedes the much longer than expected amount of time she got to spend with him today, so she brings up the inevitable.

“I never want this to end…” She says into his school uniform. “...but Sakura-san is probably worried about you at this point, huh?”

“’Worried’ might not be right,” He pulls back from the hug and suggests with a smirk. “Maybe bothered?”

“Still, I’d feel bad if we kept him waiting.”

Her empathy never fails to make him smile. “You raise a good point. I’ll see you tomorrow, then. Alright, dear?”

“Of course…” She looks down to hide a bashful smile. “…d-darling.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Good day, Akira-kun,” Haru chirped, brushing dirt off of her hands. “What brings you to this rooftop on a Sunday of all days?”

Akira walks away from the closing door to the roof, feeling his heart beat faster at the sound of her voice which makes him grin intently. “I came to see you, of course.”

She lets out a soft giggle that is music to his ears and stands up to give him a hug. “Why, thank you.”

Embracing her back and sure she can feel how wildly his heart is beating, Akira asks her a question, “I take it you’re just watering today?”

She looks up from the hug at him and smiles before skipping over to a pink and green plaid bag of vegetables she picked just recently, holding it up to eagerly explain her plan for the day. “I’d like to use this opportunity to bring my most recent harvest to Sakura-san. Could you join me?”

“Of course.” He answers. Haru feels like her day has been made already.

“Great! I need to change first, but then we can go.”

Akria helps stow a few items on the roof with her before taking to the entrance. She wears her school tracksuit for gardening so she can avoid getting her favorite puffy pink sweater dirty, so he waits at the entrance for her to change back into it to go back out. A handful of students are at the school. They are lounging near the bulletin board, presumably on campus for a club or practice, but the rest of the halls are quiet. Sundays are a nice change of pace in the school, he observes.

After she descends the flight of stairs, she gleefully walks over to Akira’s right side to take his hand and walk to the station with him. Being surrounded by office buildings and the high school, the ridership from Aoyama-Itchome is relatively low during midday on a Sunday, which gives the two the best excuse to take a seat on the train and hold each other on the way to transfer at Shibuya, even if only for five minutes.

“Mm. You’re back early…” Sojiro remarks when Akira enters the café. “Oh…?”

Haru giggles when Sojiro notices her and gives him a wave while Akira pulls out two chairs at the counter to sit at. “Sojiro, this is Haru. She grows vegetables on the school’s roof and wanted to ask your opinion on them.”

“Hello, Sakura-san,” Haru greeted in her chipper tone. “I’m sorry for asking this of you.”

“It’s all good. Not like I have customers to deal with.” Sojiro quips back, scanning the empty seats of the cafe for reference. “So… this is what you grew?”

“Yes. I’d like an honest opinion from a culinary professional.”

Sojiro donned his signature goofy grin and placed his hand on the back of his neck before Akira snarked at him, “Ooo, you liked being called that, didn’t you?”

“And you work here _part_ -time, right?” Sojiro fired back with the same expression which spurred all of them to laugh. “Anyway, let me see.”

Haru designated a few of her crops for consumption while Sojiro fetched a knife. After properly chopping them up and tasting the products, he gave his take on them.

“To be honest, both the taste and appearance are the opposite of what I’d call market-grade.”

“I see.” Haru gives him a nod.

“But, it’s impressive you managed to grow anything at all up on a rooftop of all places.”

“I’m honored to hear you say that.”

“Y’know… I can’t say it tasted good, but it was actually somewhat refreshing. Kinda like how you feel good after taking bitter medicine.”

“Hmmm… I first came across the plant in my house. It’s possible that it’s an experimental breed created for use at Okumura Foods.”

Sojiro gives a soft grunt at her speculation.

“Thank you very much for the input, Sakura-san. I’ll take note of that.”

Sojiro chuckled and welcomed Haru to ask for his opinion on food any time before stepping out of the store for an errand, not-so-subtly winking at Akira while closing the door. Akira invited Haru to join him in a booth to speak face to face. Haru cheerfully obliged and encouraged Akira to have a taste to gain his perspective on the produce as well.

“Hm. They’re quite bitter, just like Sojiro led on.” He affirmed, mentally noting an uptake of vigor in himself.

“He’s right. That was the same thought I had. I think I understand what Sakura-san meant when he said they were refreshing.”

“I… actually feel like this could help with exhaustion in the Metaverse…”

“I agree!” Haru’s face lit up and she leaned forward in her seat. “I’m so happy. I didn’t expect this hobby of mine to provide any value to the Phantom Thieves. This is the only thing I can honestly say I’m good at.”

“Oh, you know that isn’t true.” Akira smirked taking a hold of both of her hands from across the table. “I thought I was good at stealing hearts, but you had mine the moment we met.”

Haru blushed and looked down while squeezing his hands, “Oh, you!”

He chuckles to himself a bit before getting back to the topic. “It’s not too hard of work, is it?”

“Oh, thank you for worrying about me, sweetheart, but I find the work relaxing.” It made Haru endlessly happy to be able to refer to someone with an endearing name like ‘sweetheart.’ So too, did it make her happy that Akira seemed to like them as well. “Hey, um… do you think you could help me out again sometime? Like you did today.”

“I love any excuse to be with you.” He pulls her left hand to his lips and her face heats up again.

“It’s a deal! A deal like real phantom thieves!” She giggles. “Okay, I’ll do my best from now on!”

“I know you will.” Akira affirms.

“I’ll start by purchasing some new soil right away.” Haru devised.

“Then allow me to escort you to the station, my love.” He stands up from the booth, offers his hand and they were off.


	3. Chapter 3

School never seemed to last as long as it has for the last few weeks for the Phantom Thieves who attended Shujin Academy. Between their next target being a close relative of one of their teammates, to knowing that the Special Investigations Unit had honed in on the academy itself as a point of suspicion, as well as learning that the newest member of the team had a homicidal ulterior motive put the team on edge like never before. The scenario spared no pity in hitting Akira with the stress of it all.

Thankfully, the chiming of the bell to signal the end of the last class helped to alleviate some of the tension. On top of that, a buzz from his phone after he collected all of his school materials revealed itself to be a message from his sweetheart, who could always help him destress.

Opening his phone, the messages inform him that she brought new planters to the rooftop to grow some more produce for the team and has asked him—in her sweet and adorable tentative way—to join her in planting the first batch. He accepts without having to think twice and makes haste towards the stairwell after messaging her back.

When he opens the heavy blue door to the roof, he notices two large empty planters with a few bags of soil next to it, but no Haru. He steps forward so that the door can close. Before he could ever have noticed her there, Haru leaps forward from behind the opened door, ambushing him with a hug from behind.

“Good day, Akira-kun,” She says amidst a hard to control giggle. She frees one arm so she can motion to the new large planters. “What are your thoughts on the flower bed? I brought it here in the hopes of doing some serious gardening.”

“She’s so diligent…” Morgana whispers from inside Akira’s school bag.

“Well, Morgana says you’re diligent. I must agree.”

“Hey! I can speak for myself!” Morgana bellows.

Both Akira and Haru laugh lightly at his dismay. Haru replies, “Well, thank you two, regardless. Anyway, would you help me plant some vegetables today?”

“It’d be my pleasure, dear.”

“Then let’s start by spreading some soil.” She says after giving him a warm smile. “I’m a bit clumsy, but I know we can finish this quickly if you’re here.”

Akira grins and sets down the bag he takes to school to trade for one of the bags of soil to distribute into the planters. Morgana steps out of the fur-lined bag and tells the couple that he is going to take a walk in the meantime. Haru gives instructions to an eager Akira on pouring the soil; the approximate amount needed and the best rate to distribute at. She, after the soil is laid by her messy-haired cutie, flattens out the dirt in anticipation of the next step. Once the soil for the first frame was adequately laid, she directs him to repeat the process in the adjacent empty perimeter—a task he gladly begins while proudly watching her provide gentle care to the base of her pastime. After he fills the last planter, he folds up the empty soil bag and places it under the leg of one of the abandoned desks on the roof lest it blow away in a gust. He assumes Haru must have calculated the volume of her planters since one bag filled both perfectly. He returns and kneels down next to her for the subsequent instruction.

“Next up are the seeds. Allow me to go fetch those.” She chimes and walks over to her purse to gather two unmarked clear bags of seeds, holding them up for him. “Should we start with carrots or tomatoes?”

Akira ponders for a moment, “Let’s start with the carrots. They take less time to eat, so they’re probably best for emergencies.”

“My, what a fine strategist you are.” Haru giggles. “We shall plant carrots, then.”

She places back the bag of tomato seeds and returns, kneeling next to one of the planters to provide approximate distances to place the seeds in. Akira poked holes in the soil, making sure to keep enough room for the roots, and Haru dropped in the seeds and covered them. Like clockwork, the two completed the task Haru knew she would have the most trouble with in record time.

After the last seed was planted and covered, both of them stood up and turned to look at the other with a beaming smile. Haru wanted badly to hug him right then, though held back, knowing her hands were entirely dirt-covered. However, an alternative dawned upon her shortly after.

“Boop!” She smeared the dirt on her left index finger onto Akira’s nose while her cheeks flush pink. They share a laugh, Haru laughing just a bit harder than Akira. Just as her laughter quieted, though, he reignited it when he nuzzled her nose with his, returning the favor in the silliest way he could think to. Her curiosity gets the better of her, pushing her right index finger against his nose to see if he would nuzzle her again. And he does.

Haru’s self-control disappears in that moment as she grabs his face—dirt and all—and slams her lips into his, trying her hardest not to laugh out of raw joy in the middle of it. Joy which stems from him so willingly helping her in the garden, or how he so sweetly reciprocated her gesture moments ago, or even how she is kissing a boy she cares so deeply for and that, seemingly miraculously, he shared in her sentiment, welcoming her affection with open arms and a full heart. Akira, melting into the kiss himself, revels in the happiness that no one but Haru can instill in him as he wraps his arms around her, also despite his share of dirt.

Haru may have never sought to break the seal their lips formed if not for the feeling of soil drying and hardening on her hands. She breaks the kiss slowly, intending to lock eyes with him for a bit afterward, but finds herself finally succumbing to laughter seeing Akira trying to do the same, only with dirt all over his nose and cheeks.

“Hold on,” She says in the brief moments her laughter subsides enough to speak. “Let me get my handkerchief.”

An ecstatic Haru giggles her way over to her purse and finds in it the cloth she carries around with herself, brushing off her hands before reaching in to grab it. Once she turns around to face him again, she realizes something: Akira is tall. Or maybe she is just short in comparison. Either way, cleaning his face would be awkward at least and challenging at most. As soon as she gets close, she motions toward a chair behind him. Having him sit would make things much easier.

“Hm?” Akira stops rubbing the dirt off his hands and tilts his head, understanding her motion, yet confused as to why. “Oh, you’re cleaning me?”

“Oh! U-Um… yes…!” Her blush creeps back up. It seemed so natural to her to want to clean his face for him that she never noticed how intimate it truly was. “Un-unless you want to y-yourself…?”

“N-No, by all means,” He chuckles while sitting down, also noticing the same thing she did. “Say, Haru, this went really well. This can’t be the only place you garden, right?”

“It was until recently,” She leans down to brush some dirt off his cheek. “Beyond this, I’ve actually begun raising plants of my own at home—coffee beans.”

“You like coffee?” The question came naturally as a part-time barista.

“I’m actually more of a tea person,” Haru answers. “I always make sure to have at least ten different varieties on hand for my morning and afternoon tea.”

“You weren’t kidding.” Akira quips with a smirk.

“But I recently discovered the joy in the taste and aroma of coffee.” She turns over the handkerchief after cleaning off one cheek and tends to the other. “I used to think it was purely bitter, but now I understand the depth of its flavor. To tell you the truth, I wasn’t even able to drink it before.”

“That’s not uncommon,” He points out to an increasingly spaced out Haru. “Sojiro says he used to be that way and Ryuji can’t get himself to enjoy it either.”

The silence after Akira’s last word pulled Haru back down to earth from her thoughts. “Ah, pardon me. I was just thinking back on the past.”

He nods in understanding. She wipes off the last bit of dirt from his nose as he watches her smile from before become more pensive for a new question. “Um… can I share with you again?”

“Go ahead.” A soft gaze complements his kind words.

“As I mentioned before, I cannot bring myself to trust any of the employees at Okumura Foods.” She lets herself frown in front of him. “For as long as I can remember, the company has been run by my father. Being liked by him was always very important. Some employees would even come to ingratiate themselves to me. But since his passing, things have gotten unruly.”

Haru takes a deep breath and Akira uses his proximity to place a hand on her shoulder and rub it briefly for consolation. “Most evidently, people have started trying to use my influence as majority shareholder to oust other employees. They say they come to me out of respect, but I know they just want to use me.”

She gives the handkerchief to her right hand so her left hand can hold her chin. “I’ve heard so many rumors… The worst ones are about Takakura-san, the new president.”

Visibly upset himself, being no stranger to rumors, he asks, “What have you heard?”

“…They say he was thrilled to hear my father passed.” She looks away, hand still on her chin. “There may be truth to that, though. He’s been with the company for years, but has only started being nice to me recently. He even offered to assist me with asset management. I fear he has an ulterior motive, though.”

“He sounds suspicious.” Akira puts simply.

“Yes, I can’t help but wonder about him…” She responds, recalling another aspect. “He even went as far as to recommend I sell my shares the other day. He said I could make a fortune.”

Akira’s eyebrow perked up, knowing there had to be a flipside to the scenario.

“But I realized that if I did so, he would be able to strike the Okumura name completely.”

He does not let it show, however, Akira feels dejected. Though he tries, no words which could provide her any comfort or solace come to mind.

“Takakura-san must be scheming to take the company for himself.” A claim she shortly calls into question after. “At least, it’s possible.”

It pains him to give only a surface level analysis, but he says regardless, “This is a complex issue.”

“Indeed it is. None of the advice I’ve gotten so far has been helpful either.”

The words hit Akira cold. He knows they are not directed at him, yet they might as well be. He has yet to be helpful for her in any meaningful way, too. His stomach sinks at the thought of a helpless Haru.

“Thank you for today, though. I feel a little better after talking about this with you.” Her words warm him up a bit, reminding him of how he wanted to be there for her from the start. “I’ll keep myself motivated, even through this.”

He stands up from the chair and wraps his arms around her. “I’m here for you if you need it.”

“Mm-hm.” She returns the embrace, looking up at him and smiling. “I’m happy you’re here.”

Akira looks at her face and chuckles. “I think you missed a spot, dear.”

“Huh?” She scans his cleaned face and double checks to make sure she saw correctly. “I did?”

“Here,” He offers, taking the cloth from her hand. The handkerchief reaches her nose and wipes off the little bit that Akira transferred when nuzzling her. “All gone.”

She laughs lightly; both for remembering him nuzzling and when he plants a kiss on her cheek after removing the last bit of soil.


	4. Chapter 4

“You know, Akira-kun?” Haru turned to her frizzy-haired partner while they both maintained the rooftop garden to talk.

“Yeah?” He asked back, enthusiastic to start talking with his favorite person more.

“I was just thinking, soil is such a mysterious thing.” Her statement made him chuckle. He could never tire of seeing Haru exercise her curiosity. “Within its gentle care, even a tiny seed can awaken, spread its roots and grow up toward the sun.”

“It’s almost like a mother.” She looks up and says into the sky. “Perhaps that aspect is why I find this place so comforting.”

A small laugh leaves Akira’s mouth as he admits, “’Motherly’ is a great way to describe you.”

She giggles to herself and stands up, brushing dirt off her hands with her tracksuit. Akira, too stands up, rubbing his hands together to rid the dirt.

“You know, I only started taking care of planters up here because one of my teachers asked me to.” She delves while Akira listens intently. “I was hesitant at first, but I liked it so much that I kept them long past the original request. I started mixing in my own fertilizer, adjusting soil ratios…” She briefly trails off. “Now I raise these plants in complete secret.”

“And you do a great job.” Akira leans in, completing his statement with a tender kiss on her cheek that Haru cannot help but giggle at.

“But, um, Akira-kun…” A quiet couple of concerned words emerged after they regained eye contact. “I’m worried what the school might do if they found out about this.”

“It’ll be okay, I promise.” Akira affirmed her clearly. Speaking from experience, the school never bothered with the roof anyway, even knowing what happened in the spring.

She giggled aloud at the response, “You’re so dependable. In that case…” Taking ahold of his hands and pulling them close to her chest, she states, “…I guess this can be our little secret.” They share a short kiss to make it official.

She let go of his hands and giggled to herself again. “Honestly, Akira-kun, I really enjoy the time we spend together. It’s so different from how I feel when I’m around _him_.”

He tensed up hearing her tone take such a nosedive. “…What do you mean?”

She hangs her head in shame at the realization that she never mentioned him. “…I’m so sorry. I should have told you sooner…” She gives a sigh filled with both regret and burden. “…I meant my fiance.” A moment of silence passes while Akira grimaces, remembering his first encounter with him. First hearing Morgana only faintly, and then when the team followed, finding his cat kicked aside while Haru desperately begged to be released by some self-important prick in a suit. “…I-I understand if you’re mad…”

“No, I’m not mad. But you should’ve said so.” After Akira denies, she feels his loving arms wrap her into a warm hug that she knows she deserves none of. Despite every reason Akira has to be completely upset with her, he shows her his incredible compassion that she knows she has not earned. She staves off the temptation of returning the kind embrace, hoping she can avoid feeling like she just unapologetically took advantage of him. Akira waits a few moments longer just to see if she will hug him back. As it becomes clear she will not, be backs off, soon realizing in stepping back that her fiance is, in fact, a physical abuser and that it would be foolish of him to assume touch to be the right remedy in this scenario. His anger, both for himself and for her fiance heightens, “That asshole didn’t just fuck off after your father passed? The deal wasn’t about him anyway, right?”

Haru shook her head in silence. “It’s a long story.”

“Go ahead.” He uses the same words he used to encourage her to speak last time.

She takes a deep breath. “This whole arrangement began when my father first introduced us around the beginning of this year. I was told we were just meeting his friend for dinner…” Pausing, she looks down at the floor and shakes her head. “…But then he said that ‘friend’ was to be my fiance.”

“I couldn’t imagine…” Akira states.

“It was surprising, but I suppose I had always known I would someday be married off for political gain…”

Akira steps forward and pulls Haru into another embrace, kissing the top of her head for good measure. It pains Haru again to not hug him back, reminded of her selfishness again.

“So, I accepted, and that was the start of our relationship.” She quieted, feeling as if there was something she could have better explained to him. It only takes a moment of pondering before she sees the error and she breaks from the embrace frantically to make the correction, “Oh, b-but um… no ‘relationship’ stuff happened, just to be clear!”

Her heart steadies itself before she deems it appropriate to talk again. “A-Anyway, I was never exactly fond of him to begin with, but now he has grown far worse.” Her eyes meet his for a new example. “Recently, he’s been suggesting we go on an ‘early honeymoon’ to celebrate our coming marriage. I can’t even stand to look at him, though. Let alone spend any prolonged time together.”

Akira winced again in part understanding and part agreement. She asks the question behind the story, “So, um… what can I say to decline his offer?”

“’I don’t want to go with you,’ maybe?” He provided.

“R-Right. I suppose it would be best to simply be clear about it.” She says with a hint of trepidation. Akira sighs, feeling her answer may have hinted that she does not have such an option.

“As you know, my father passed away before he could fulfil his promise to rescind the marriage proposal. So any conversation about putting a halt to the marriage will have to come from me.” Her expression hardens. “To tell you the truth, I’ve already mentioned it to my fiance, but he refuses to listen to a single word I have to say.”

“God…” Akira mutters under his breath.

“Apparently, he’s even been telling the employees at Okumura Foods about the contract he made with my father and how the company would have to pay extreme reparations if it got called off for any reason… I just…” She looks back up at him and does her best not to let a few tears fall. “…don’t know how to handle this. I can postpone while I’m still in high school, but after that…?”

Silence again. Akira can hardly believe nothing he can think to say helps.

“Thinking about it now, it seems my father’s death has turned out quite favorable for my fiance. After all, he’s now engaged to the majority shareholder of a massive company. And I suppose in the end, all he really cares about is his own personal gain.” She steps back. “But that’s not what a relationship should be built on. It should be something more…” She gathers the right words to describe what she intends, “Something like… a love so intense that just seeing the other person makes your chest tighten up… Do, um, you know what I mean?”

Her words ring completely true; he knows that feeling well. He smiles for what feels like the first time on the roof today. “Every time I look at you.”

“And I, you, Akira-kun.” Her voice regains lost vigor, but not without the somberness of before. “But, there was never a spark like that with my fiance. Spending time with him is almost like some kind of training.”

The break from reality was all too short, Akira finds as the bleakness of it all washes over again.

“Still,” She perks back up, burying the unpleasant. “I know hardships develop character, and I’m sure this will eventually help the Phantom Thieves, so…I’ll get through this.”

Though not entirely, her resolve eases Akira up, allowing him to form a wry smile for her. “Please tell me if I can ever help, sweetheart.”

It surprises her none that Akira answers the way he does, but she hides all doubts about her character away so she can maintain herself, saying, “You already are.”


	5. Chapter 5

Akira, after taking up an offer to try what Haru called a “rare type of coffee” finds himself seated at a fancy table in a familiar hotel restaurant with her as she harkens back to something she told him before. “Do you remember how I mentioned before about my newfound interest in coffee?”

“I do.” He affirms her.

“Well, I’ve decided to start studying the topic more seriously by going out to places like this. Today, I wanted to try the Dark Ivory coffee, which is roughly six thousand yen.”

Akira’s eyebrows raised at the proposition of such a pricey cup. “It must be amazing.”

“I’ve heard it is.” She says back, enthused. “We should try it before passing judgement.” Her hand dives into her purse before she says with a big grin on her face, “Shall we order? I’ll be paying for your cup as well.”

“I can’t let you do that.” Akira half-complains with a smile.

Haru heartily giggles, knowing he would say that. “That’s noble of you. But allow me to handle this. I invited you, after all.”

Akira shakes his head in playful acquiescence. “Alright. But I get the next one.”

She nods, grinning from ear to ear. “Hm, I wonder how it will taste.”

Haru waves down a waitress and orders for them while Akira waits with a bit less patience than he usually has; coffee is exciting to him.

The waitress returns not long after, Dark Ivory in tow. Haru thanks her and motions Akira to take the first sip at the same time she does. “Well, here we go…”

The flavor reaches Akira’s tongue and he finds that it is describable in a few ways. Mellow, faintly bitter, and distinct—not quite comparable to a Leblanc served cup.

“Mm… It has a distinctly fragrant aroma, paired with a mild flavor. Undoubtedly delicious, yet… I would barely consider it coffee.”

Akira perked up an eyebrow, seeing as he resonated with each description Haru offered except for the last one. “How come?” He asked all too innocently.

“Apparently it’s brewed using beans gathered from elephant dung.”

Haru spun into laughter watching his perplexed expression rapidly become one of incredulity that took him a moment to recover from. Only after he regains good composure does he quip, “I can taste the elephant.”

“I apologize for not disclosing that to you earlier,” Haru let her laughter subside before saying. “I just thought you might find it hard to enjoy if you had known ahead of time. I was surprised to hear it at first myself, but that was actually why wanted to try it to begin with.”

Akira chuckled, happy to see Haru’s curiosity at play.

“Another rare type of coffee, kopi luwak, is gathered from the feces of a small cat called a civet. Interestingly enough, the flavor differs depending on what animal it was originally consumed by.” She lets the information churn in her head until a new thought forms. “Speaking of cats, do you think Mona-chan would be able to…?”

“Let’s ask him.” Akira quips with a laugh, imagining what this situation would entail if Morgana came with instead of staying home with Futaba as of late.

“Perhaps it could become Leblanc’s new specialty drink.” Haru jokes back, making them both laugh. “Oh, but we need Mona-chan for our operations, huh? We can’t afford to make him eat beans all day.”

The space in between their laughter is jovial. A coffee date is just what the doctor ordered for their relationship, Akira observes.

“Haru-chan?” A voice from inside the restaurant called out.

“Takakura-san!?” Haru exclaimed. Akira sees he thought too soon.

The owner of the voice appeared, standing at the edge of their table. A stocky man in a suit. He looks to be in his middle ages, yet with the voice of a thirty-something-year-old, authoritative, though compassionate. If not for Haru identifying him as Takakura-san, Akira would have hardly seen him as a high-ranking businessman, much less the unbending, scheming commander he had imagined he must have been. Haru, too, is caught off guard, though for a far different reason. Takakura had no clue who Akira was previously, and now he has primed himself to both learning and potentially becoming suspicious of them both.

“What a strange place for us to meet. It’s not often I see people your age at this luxurious buffet.” Takakura sweeps the buffet with his eyes to prove himself right in his head. “And who is this?” He asks, staring straight into Akira’s soul. His gaze is far from piercing or hostile, yet it puts the couple on edge as though it were.

“Oh, h-he’s a friend from school…” She swears that Takakura made a mental note of him just then. “Aki—err, Kurusu-kun, this is Takakura-san, the new president of Okumura Foods.”

Akira stuck out his hand and Takakura took it in a handshake that by some means was both firm and friendly. His already contested conception of Takakura is shaken further.

“By the way, it looks like we will be able to avoid litigation. We somehow settled on decent terms. You don’t need to worry.”

_If only._ Haru instantly rebutted in her head.

“Oh, and about your shares, you should consider letting the company hold onto them for the time being. I’m sure you have enough on your plate already, given everything that’s happened to you.”

“Well, I…” She tries to gather something to say to him.

“Ah, I’m sorry to bring that up while you two are enjoying yourselves here.” He concedes when a new relevant question surfaces in his head. “That aside, how are things with Sugimura-kun? You know, these days you need to reserve a wedding hall almost a year in advance if you want a good one.”

She looks down at her cup of coffee, upset that the question had to come up in front of her legitimate love interest. Akira can now begin to see the kind of Takakura that Haru described, though it still clashes with the softer side he seems to have shown at first.

“Sometimes, it worries me how laid back you are, Haru-chan.” Takakura laments.

“R-Right, We’re in the process…” A near whisper of an explanation leaves her lips.

Takakura makes a noise like he just remembered something. “Well, I should be heading back to the office now. Oh, but please—allow me to pay for your drinks.” His hand disappears into his suit jacket to reach his wallet.

“N-No that’s quite alright.” She declines while speaking up. “And, um, about the shares… I can handle them for now. I’m going to protect that which my father left for me.”

“…I understand. Please do try to reconsider, though.” Returning his wallet, he responds to her. “Well, if you’ll excuse me.”

Takakura takes his leave, heading for the elevators outside the buffet. Haru sighs when he rounds the corner, and Akira mimics her, struggling to put a clear picture of Takakura’s true nature together.

“…That was a lie.” She brings herself to say finally. “There’s no way I can handle the responsibilities I have to deal with right now. I mean, I’m just an inexperienced high schooler… but I can’t leave the company in Takakura-san’s hands.”

She takes a new sip of her coffee. “Hey, um… what did you think of him?”

Akira pauses. The previous interaction did nothing for him but mix every signal he had made about Takakura. His voice and body language pushed him to think he was kind enough, but Haru’s account of him and how he stressed the things Haru worried about led him to think he was acting malevolently.

“…I’m not really sure…” He wishes he could answer more concretely, which is why it surprises him to watch her smile lightly at his response.

“You’re so honest, Akira-kun.” It warms his heart to see her smile again. “But I agree, I really don’t know whether or not I can trust him.”

“Mhm.” He affirms solemnly.

“Right now, the most prevelant rumor about Takakura-san is that he was pleased by my father’s passing. I mean, he was certainly the person who stood to benefit the most from it. It’s hard to deny that fact.” She stirs the liquid in her cup while Akira takes another sip. “But he says he’s trying to rebuild our company image. I just can’t tell if he really means it.”

The ambience of the buffet fills the air as neither speaks for a moment.

“You know, sometimes I wonder what life would be like if I didn’t have money—if I was normal.” She laments. “Don’t get me wrong, the company is definitely important, but it’s often nothing more than a source of stress.”

“I understand.” Akira says without energy.

“Oh, and as for that ‘Sugimura-san’… That’s my fiance.” Haru looked down at her shoes. “He’s been really showering me with presents lately. One night he even left a bouquet of roses on my pillow. But… he would have needed one of the maids to help him accomplish that, right? Or worse, he has the keys to my house… That’s a scary thought.”

Akira slowly nodded in dreadful agreement.

“Even worse,” She says, “Takakura-san has been hurrying us to get married after what happened to my father. He claims it’s because of the profit the marriage will bring to the company, but there has to be more to the situation than just that.”

She closes her eyes, still looking down. Akira has never felt guiltier. Haru is suffering right in front of him, and he cannot think of even one way to assist her.

Haru lifts her head and nods with determination. “Anyway, I’ll look a little deeper into Takakura-san. Perhaps he truly was pleased by my father’s death. Maybe I should start by asking the employees who are trying so desperately to win my favor.”

Akira is happy that Haru is not entirely down and out, yet it still feels like a failure on his part. His eyes meet hers with a simple, “That’s the spirit.”


	6. Chapter 6

As the last bell of the school day rings, Haru and Akira both know exactly what it means. It had become familiar to both of them to meet up at the school rooftop and then spend the rest of the afternoon with one another. Usually a joyous part of the day. However, as it came to be, the last two times they met left the pair with something to be desired increasingly. They both know something has gone wrong down the road, yet the catalyst of it is still vague at best.

When Akira swings open the blue door to the roof, he swallows the fears he knows they will have to confront today, in hopes that keeping his chin up will be a positive force in doing so. “Hi, Haru.” He says with a grin.

“Good day, Akira-kun.” She turns around from her plants to say back with an unconvincing smile.

“Is there something you want to do today?” He asks tentatively.

“Um, if you’re free, I’d like to speak with you about Takakura-san.”

“Fine by me.”

“Thank you. Why don’t we get some coffee again? Does Big Bang Burger sound okay?”

He nods at the question and knows the drill from here. He turns around to walk back to the entrance lobby of the academy and wait for her to change out of her gym clothes before they can depart. Part of him wished just for some one-on-one with her today to see if they could talk out the issues forming between them, he thinks as he descends the steps. Even now, all he hopes is that this date uncovers the metaphorical wedge in their relationship so that he may strike it out of existence and resume the kind of relationship that he knows she deserves. It still eats at his heart how painful this must be for Haru, having to take on the role of her father in his death, having to deal with the type of corrupted fools her father was, and never getting straight answers from the employees who think the favor of the boss’ daughter might mean a raise in their paycheck. Any normal person would be crushed by such a burden, but she manages somehow, even as he is less and less of a help to her.

Haru turns the corner of the hallway to the entrance lobby, dressed in her uniform and sweater. When she reaches his side, they share no words at all before they exit the school and walk their way towards the station to board the subway to Shibuya. Reminiscent of the day they both went to Leblanc as a fairly new couple, the differences in the trip are painfully apparent. It may have been nice to hold hands like they did the first time, but the prying eyes of the student body were ready to eat up such a story. It may have been nice to share some pleasantries along the way like they did the first time, but there was increasingly little pleasant to mention, it seemed. It may have been nice to hold each other on the subway like they did the first time, but neither knows how well the other would take it, plus the seats were full unlike that one Sunday afternoon. Even when the train pulls into their stop, they share no more than a quick glance to affirm their readiness to disembark.

As the couple entered the automatic doors of the Central Street Big Bang Burger, Akira steps ahead of Haru to meet the yellow-clad lady at the register first. She notices what he is doing a few steps after he overtook her and catches up with him to tap his shoulder twice just before he can order for them. He turns around with a light inquisitive noise and she says, “Let me pay for this, please.” She figures that since she chose the restaurant and that, on a deeper level, she feels responsible for how sideways the last two dates have ended up, she could at least partially free her head from some of the guilt by coming out of pocket for him right now.

Her offer gives him a smile, but he refuses it, reminding her, “I did say I’d pay for the next time, right?” As the last word leaves his lips, he thinks it would be the perfect opportunity to lean down to kiss the top of her head if not for the fact that one of the employees noticing it could very well spell doom for her.

Akira turns around after speaking, leaving Haru with the strangest of heartaches. She had forgotten that he had offered to pay for their next coffee, but even as he follows through on his promise, she struggles to justify it in her mind. As much as she tells herself that he is staying true or that Akira is just naturally kind like he is, all of it adds up to her fault—and it being ignored by him for her own sake. It almost reminds her of a typical interaction with an Okumura Foods employee as of late: being excessively nice to her and insisting she can do no wrong. Only Akira has no hidden agenda, he just wants to be kind.

Her thoughts are cut off when she hears the printing of a receipt. The employee tears it out of the machine and hands it to Akira. With the slip of paper reading their orders in hand he asks Haru where she would like to sit. She picks out a half booth table with a large window facing Central Street and they make their way over. Haru takes the booth side and sets her school bag to her right while Akira takes one of the two rocket-ship-shaped chairs to sit in and leaves his school bag on the other.

Their simple coffee order arrives not too long after they have seated themselves, delivered by a worker to their half-booth. They share a wistful smile with each other before they both take a sip of their drinks and feel its warmth come through. Once they have settled in properly, Haru figures that she ought to start explaining what she found out about the company’s new CEO. “Um, I looked into Takakura-san, but I didn’t manage to find very much beyond those initial rumors. Several people I asked said that he often complained about my father, but just as many seemed to say the exact opposite.” The wry feeling she has shows itself on her face briefly. “One side has to be deceiving me, correct? I’m honestly suspicious of everyone at this point…”

“Somebody’s telling the truth.” Akira offers his point of view.

She ponders for a moment, then nods. “I see. If there are two contradictory stories, one of them has to be right. I suppose I’ll just have to learn the truth of the matter myself.” Her eyes wander to the company logo on her cup and it reminds her of something else she had to say. She reclines in the booth a tad. “To be honest, Takakura-san has been pushing the marriage particularly hard lately. He says it will help provide vital backup for myself and Okumura Foods, both in public and in private. He’s even started asking Sugimura-san into important company meetings.”

She pauses in her tracks for a moment and her expression darkens. “There’s also the contract Sugimura-san made with my father…” Several chilling moments pass without a word. “…Sh-Should we… call it off? Me and you… Marriage looks like my only option…”

The air becomes thick with tension. Akira’s dreadful interaction with Sugimura settles itself back into his head. Just the fact that Haru needs to consider marrying that bastard breaks Akira’s heart several times over. “…Th-There has to be another way…”

It is a relief to her that he thinks so, but it does not stop her from grimacing. “…You’re right. Maybe I shouldn’t give up so easily.”

He now regrets that they are having coffee at Big Bang Burger. He wants so badly to reach across the table and take ahold of her hands or move across the table into the booth to envelop her and show her how much he cares. But here, he cannot. Yet another date is going poorly, and he feels powerless to help.

“Either way, graduation is quickly approaching. We’ll have to decide our course of action soon enough…” She brings her hand up to her chin and looks his way. “You know, before you came along, I hadn’t even considered not going through with this marriage. I believed I would simply marry the man my father had chosen, and let the rest of my life pass me by.”

His heart breaks again.

“I wonder what would have happened if my father didn’t have a Palace. Would I have just resigned myself to the fate he had made for me…?”

Finally, Akira hears a question that he knows the answer to from the bottom of his heart. Haru has proven herself too strong-willed a person to have accepted the miserable life her father set her up to live. His lips curve to their most sincere smile of the day when he leans forward and says with abounding confidence, “I don’t think so. You’re too strong.”

“Akira-kun…” She leans back and puts her hands on her heart like that would stop it from beating faster. “Thank you. You always know how to make me feel better.”

The date may not have been a net positive for either of them, but they know at least one great thing came of it. The confidence that she would have put up a fight even in the absence of the Metaverse is a warm thought; one Haru desperately needed.

“Honestly though, things would have been far worse for me if I hadn’t joined the Phantom Thieves. Plus, I would never have had anyone to talk to like this. So…” Haru breathes a deep sigh before offering a word of apology, “…I’m sorry if I’ve been selfish lately.”

At the point the second-to-last syllable leaves her lips, Haru is reminded of the last time she ever apologized to her father. It was nothing uncommon in their one-sided relationship. She would express sorrow for stepping out of line, he would give her the long-winded “Okumura’s daughter” speech to make sure she felt bad for it, but then praised her for noticing her mistake like he had. After that, their standing would return to normal—or at least their still-very-much-lopsided version of normal. For everything backwards in their relationship, she understood apologies to be essential to any kind of partnership.

To Akira, all that comes of her apology is confusion, though. The most selfless person he knows just apologized for her selfishness. He tries, irretrievably, to think of any time at all since he met her where she had been anything but altruistic. All he can come up with are counterexamples. From offering to pay for the second time in a row for their date, factoring the company into her decision in marriage, and even turning her own hobby into a proactive means of helping the team. Her claim about herself seems misguided, if not entirely baseless.

“You haven’t been selfish, Haru. Nothing close.” Akira says calmly.

“…Um… thank you…” She says to him in a downtrodden tone, keeping secret that his denial struck her as deeply questionable.

Akira takes one last drink from his near-empty cup. He can tell something is clearly wrong. She certainly feels guilty about something—something that makes her feel self-centered, and at his expense, nonetheless. Not one even vague example comes to mind, however.

“I hope,” Haru says following a sigh. “someday we can just look out at the sea with a nice cup of coffee and forget about all of this.”

Akira gives her a soft smile. “I hope so, too.”

Haru lifts her disposable cup off of the table expecting to feel liquid still in there. When she realizes it is empty, Akira picks up on the clue, and mentions his is empty, too. She stands back up and suggests they return back to their homes, which he agrees with, grabbing his bag and briefly waiting for her so they could walk out together. When they split up at the station to take different trains, Haru reflects on their time. It makes her glad to see Akira is committed to keeping their relationship intact. But still, it confuses her to think he would flat out reject the premise of her apology.

When she boards her train, she intends to simply forget about it, leave the interaction in the past. It is not long, however, that she finds her attempts to reorient her thoughts fruitless, and is soon rolling his words claiming her not selfish back and forth in her head again. After failing to mention her fiance to him, asking for his help without offering her own and even making him uncomfortable in front of Takakura, she knows herself to be nothing but selfish with him. If Akira is just being nice, he must be deliberately turning a blind eye to her shortcomings and only pretending she is without fault.

Only then does a dastardly thought strike: Her relationship with Akira bore a frighteningly similar tone to her and her father’s.

Her knee-jerk reaction to un-think such an idea only served to further cement it as factual in her brain. It all lines up: She got Akira’s help for things unrelated to him the way her father would complain about work to her, she used Akira to feel happy about herself similar to how her father craved praise, and just like how if Father apologized, you were to assume his innocence, Akira insists she never did anything wrong. She had spent almost all of her life under her father’s thumb, but somehow, even after living through all of it and knowing the pain imbedded inside, his degrading nature took ahold and manifested in her. Even worse, she used it against Akira. He never deserved any of this. All he has ever been to Haru—or anyone else for that matter—is kind. Still, she let her father leave an impression on her, and now here she is, crying to herself among the strangers of the subway that she has been taking advantage of the love of her life.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a heads up: if you're sensitive to verbal abuse, I would advise against reading this chapter.

For the first time since mid-September, Haru feels her after-school activity of maintaining her garden will be the highlight of her day. Her end-of-class routine is the same, only today has seen her laying off the usual message she sends Akira informing him of where she is. As she waters the flowerbed, it breaks her heart that she hopes Akira will take the hint of not receiving a message to take the day off from seeing her. It is not hard for her to tell what kind of negative impact the last few times they met had on him. So, at least until she has uncovered what makes herself so controlling of him, she hopes he stays away for his own sake.

Yesterday, she thought it may be worthwhile to try and rediscover how her grandfather went about life. It remains a wonder how her father ended up so wicked after having a father like him. Her grandfather was an exemplary gentleman, never too worried about his profit, charitable, a man who saw first in everyone their humanity above all else. That passion, according to those who knew him, so often found its way into the warm meals he made and the coffee it delighted him to brew.

She stows her now empty watering can and seats herself in one of the abandoned roof chairs to ponder on it. She wants to leave her father’s impact in the past, following instead the altruistic direction her grandfather decided to walk, even when faced with hardship. A book on coffee seems like a fine place to start. Childhood memories of Jinbocho with its wealth of bookstores both secondhand and wholesale waste no time cueing her where she ought to spend the rest of the afternoon if she was serious about changing herself.

Not long after Haru stands back up does the door creek open slowly. She figured Akira may just show up to see her even without her prompting him to. It had crossed her mind when ascending the stairs that she could explicitly tell him not to join her, but she decided against it in the end. She already feels guilty enough, adding to it by taking up the commanding tone of her father would help neither of them.

“Hey.” He greets.

“Hi, Akira-kun.” She replies.

“Were you going to do something today? I didn’t get a message.”

“…I was thinking of going to find some books myself to…” Once her sentence reached that point, she realized that it may have been better to lie about it if she wanted him to stay behind. “…help me study coffee…”

“Ah.” He says back with a little enthusiasm.

“…But… you are the expert, huh? It’d be silly to go alone…”

Akira senses that he may not be quite welcome and offers, “If you’d like, I can do something else tod—“

“N-No, you can join…”

Akira is not entirely sure how he ought to respond.

“…S-Sure…” He answers unconvincingly.

“Okay. I was thinking of Jinbocho.”

They separate with a nod before Haru changes into her school clothes and Akira waits for her the same way they always do. If the last subway ride they took together was uncomfortable, this one was painful. As the squeaky rails guide them to their destination, Akira longs and prays for another chance to finally be of any assistance to Haru again. Each glance and double take of her on the train affirms him how distressed and exhausted he knows her to be. Only occasionally have his words seemed to help, his embraces seem to have worn out, even now as he spends an anguishing moment with her, he fears he is no longer truly welcome, and the thought stings.

Haru knew taking Akira along was a bad idea, yet, denying him what he seems to want feels heartless. At the same time, it may be just as heartless to make him suffer with her, even if he does so willingly. Two evils arose as her options, and she chose the familiar one. How absurd that the leader of the Phantom Thieves has been manipulated by her into worrying over her disaster of a life, answering to help with an increasingly unsolvable problem, and even being used for his kindness. Plus, as evidenced by today, he now looks to be entirely obligated to her.

At the time the endless subway ride reaches Jinbocho Station, their minds could both use the break. Haru takes the lead, directing them to the outside of a secondhand bookstore that Akira quietly recognizes so they may begin to search for the right book for her. Though it takes a bit, among the wide shelves of difficult chapter books and paperback stories, Haru lands herself a thin instructional booklet on the basics of coffee making after a fair amount of digging. “Mm. I found one.”

Akira throws in the towel on his fruitless search at her declaration, opting instead to watch her read her newly picked out title. If the book lacks specificity, he may be able to fill her in on the details, and if it mentions an aspect he knows nothing about, then he learns something, too.

“I see… So there are eight different ways to roast coffee beans. Apparently the light roast is the most acidic.” Haru gathers as she flips through the used book. “It says here that the type of roast you want should differ depending on how you want to drink your coffee.”

“Isn’t it fascinating?” Akira tries to put on a smile.

“It is. I think I’d like to try hand-roasting each type someday.” Haru’s eyes never leave the page as an image depicting a cafe on it reminds herself of the family history she mulled over on the rooftop.

“You know, Okumura Foods didn’t start out as a burger chain. Originally it was nothing more than a small cafe run by my grandfather.” She forces herself to look back up at him. “That particular shop closed before I was old enough to appreciate the finer intricacies of coffee… but that’s where the real origin of our family business lies.”

“I had no idea.” Akira says back. Her eyes fixate back on the paper.

“I didn’t either. My father only first mentioned it to me a year or two ago.” After recalling for a moment, she goes on. “At any rate, after my grandfather passed, the company, headed by Father, shut the cafe down due to its steady loss of revenue.”

Akira gives her a somber, understanding few nods which Haru only notices the end of.

“He had never cared about turning a profit, though. His only goal was to make people happy.” It stings a little bit to contrast her father with her grandfather—and by extension, herself with her grandfather. “He built a strong community around the cafe. He’d even give out free meals to those who couldn’t afford it. Then the day it closed, people lined up for blocks to give flowers. They really loved that place.”

“It really sounds like it.”

She makes another comparison. “I wonder how many customers would care if Big Bang Burger suddenly went out of business.” She laments. “I know we have to do well to keep our employees paid, but I can’t help but think we’ve lost something important.”

“I get that.”

“I mean, Takakura-san seems to only be focused on profits. At this rate, we’ll never lose our black image.”

Any other day, Akira thinks he would have said the black coffee pun that surfaced in his head to lighten the mood, but he quashes it to convey his empathy, “That would be bad…”

Her eyes wander from the book to the ground. “I think what I really need… is to get stronger. I mean, I can act tough in front of my employees, but you know how weak I am inside.” She sighs. “I wonder sometimes… if my employees really know how weak I am. They act like I know what I’m doing, but I don’t know if they truly trust me…”

Akira hears the slam of a car door not far away, he pays it no mind at first, but when a voice from the same direction calls out “Haru?” both of them physically tense up and the tension between them instantly becomes shared dread.

“S-Sugimura-san?” Haru verbally stumbles as the brown-haired man she knows to be her fiance saunters his way towards them. “W-What are you doing here?”

“I was just headed home from a business engagement when I saw you from my car window.” Sugimura turns to instead face his fiance’s partner, and Akira watches an evil smirk grow on his face. “Ah, you must be the secret lover Takakura mentioned.”

The statement catches both of them far off guard, with Haru reacting, “D-Did he refer to him as that?”

His grin just as quickly morphs to brandish hostile anger, scowling, “No, but I can take a goddamn hint, Haru.”

“T-This is a friend from school, Sugimura-san. He’s just helping me look for books today.”

“Oh, Haru, it wouldn’t hurt to tell your fiance the truth for once, no?”

Her voice quiets itself when she softly reasserts, “You are not my fiance… I already said, I’m not going to marry you…”

Sugimura raises his voice only to assert power over her low tone. “And what about the contract I made with your father?”

Haru speaks a touch louder, but without any energy, “…Father is… no longer here. Besides, marriage is something you go into with your own free will. A contract could never hold the same weight…”

“And with this ‘free will’ of yours, you intend to turn a blind eye to the needs of your dead father’s company, disrespect him even beyond the grave, and pay off this punk to keep you happy in bed?”

Akira steps forward. “That’s bullsh—“

Sugimura raises his arm and points a threatening finger at Akira to remind him who he is, promptly shutting him up. “Think about the reparations clause. You would lose the company, your estate, along with everything you take for granted on a daily basis by denying me.”

“E-Even so I—” Haru chokes out.

“What about your employees?!” Sugimura’s piercing voice sears through again. “Are you so heartless to put their livelihoods on the line for the sake of your selfishness?”

She opens her mouth to say something, but only makes a faint noise. He knows. He knows just how selfish she truly is. She clenches her eyes shut as if it would stop him from speaking.

“Besides, this marriage is exactly what Okumura Foods needs right now.” His crushing voice lowers as he starts to speak like a businessman again. “My father would have no trouble managing your shares or sweeping away your company’s tarnished image. It’s the best option you have, Haru.”

Akira’s teeth grind as he shakes his head at the man who thinks he owns the woman he loves.

“Aw. Are you going to save her, pretty boy? Too bad Takakura already booked out our wedding hall for April.”

“Wh-What!?” She yells the loudest she has in years. “H-He never told me that!”

“Of course he didn’t: no one trusts you, Haru. Not myself, not Takakura, not your father. I doubt Prince Charming here does, either.”

Alone. Haru is now alone. Her gaze drops to the sidewalk below her with the same eyes that once shone brightly with Akira at her side. His calming presence, his kind embrace, his sweet kisses and his encouraging words are all for naught. Each hopeful resolve she made and the progress towards a solution she never could have done on her own are reduced to rubble under the heel of the politician’s son before her. In their absence, Haru fights back tears.

“Haru…” Sugimura bends to her height. “…your father, Takakura, and even your employees have long known you to be a self-centered, promiscuous, and irresponsible woman. Looking at you now, nothing speaks to the contrary.”

When she refuses to look him in the eye, he snatches her chin and jerks her head up.

“Marry me. Prove them wrong.” Sugimura walks off without another word.

Once his white suit leaves her field of vision, the dam breaks. She indiscriminately lays the book she chose back on the shelf and then covers her face to stop more tears from falling. Akira walks up to her and defaults to putting a hand on her shoulder in the grim hopes that it might help.

“Hey… hey…” He repeats quietly, patting his hand on her.

“I’m sorry…” She sputters. “I’m so sorry…”

Akira looks around him, finding many pedestrians looking on from afar. Staying out would be bad, he surmises.

“Haru, can I…” He falls back on what is familiar. “…can I take you back to Leblanc?”

She nods, and with the hand on her shoulder, Akira guides her back to the station.


	8. Chapter 8

Sojiro turns his head when he hears the bell ring at the opening of the cafe door. He expects to greet Akira the regular way, but concedes to a solemn nod when he sees a soul-crushed Haru beside him. Akira nods back wryly to him. He leads her across the cafe and they walk up the steps in the same silence that permeated the ride back.

It takes a few timid moments of standing in the attic before Haru finally asks, “What should I do?”

“Make yourself at home,” He replies sullenly. He knows the answer is a little vague, so he offers examples, “Cry it out, sit down for a while, watch some TV… take a nap if you need to…” Akira places his hand on the back of his neck.

He sees Haru look down at the old floorboards and can sense her hesitance.

“…If you need time alone, I can do that, too.”

She lifts her head slightly, only enough to nod with the least effort possible. Akira gives her a cheerless smile and retreats back downstairs to give her some space. Haru drags her feet the distance to Akira’s bed to sit down and take in everything.

It only took one step down the staircase for Akira to recognize that time alone means he will be alone with his thoughts, too. He heeds the inevitability of it, watching each step bring him closer to the ground level. Tonight may be the last time he ever gets to consider her his girlfriend, Akira realizes. He seats himself in the booth nearest the stairs to lay his arms out on the table and sink his head into them. His mind takes the reins.

Justice is dead. Nothing is fair. Haru Okumura, the most kind, soft, sweet and caring girl on earth, after everything, is subject to the most painful life of anyone he knows. Even when he tries to save her, and even after he tries again, her life wins.

When Kamoshida had a change of heart, Ann got to see her best friend’s recovery through and Ryuji helped set things right with and among his former teammates. When Madarame had a change of heart, Yusuke was freed from the torture of living under his master’s thumb and managed to pave his own artistic path in his absence. When Kaneshiro had a change of heart, Makoto could finally stand up to the principal with it and learned to break out of the mold of her student council president image. When Futaba had a change of heart, she escaped her once hopeless suicidality and got a second chance at avenging her mother.

But when they took after Kunikazu Okumura, Haru was rewarded with her father’s funeral, all of his assets, a company under public fire, employees vying for the power she never wanted, a new CEO with an unknown motive, a threat to arrest her and her best friends for her father’s murder and the same abusive fiance her father chose out, who plans to take everything her father once had through marriage and keep her as a sex doll.

“Hey…Akira.”

It pulls him out of his thoughts to hear Sojiro’s voice. “…Yeah?”

“Something happen?” It had confused him to hear footsteps descending the attic so soon after they walked up there. It only deepened when he saw it was Akira who came down, only to seat himself in his booth, nonetheless.

He sighs, wondering how he could ever give a response worthy of the grief he feels right now. “…You remember Kunikazu Okumura?” He peaks his eyes above his arm to look at the man behind the counter. Sojiro gives him a nod. “…Haru was forced into arranged marriage by him. He promised to rescind it when we changed his heart, but then he died before he could.”

“Right…”

“Haru and I…ran into her fiance today.” Sojiro walks out from behind the counter to stand in front of the table. “Asshole told her she’s a careless slut…among other things.”

He hears a sigh. The scenario reminds Sojiro of something similar.

“It was all bullshit, though!” Akira would have slammed the table with his fist if Sojiro was not watching. “But…she took each word to heart… Plus, he says the wedding’s in five months…”

Sojiro slides into the booth seat opposite him and Akira uses all the might he can to lift his head up for him. “…I think I know what you’re dealing with… Futaba’s relatives did this kind of thing to her, too. Made the poor girl believe she wasn’t worth living.”

“Yeah…” Akira mumbles.

“…I’m sorry I don’t have any specific advice, just…” Akira sharply breathes out of his nose while Sojiro gathers his words. “…just don’t sit there and watch like I did.”

Haru knows that she has only been upstairs for maybe ten minutes, even then, it disgusts her that she kicked him out of his own room just to cry to herself. On top of it, she owes Akira many apologies that she knows she has to give at some point. An apology for taking his room, an apology for bringing him with today, an apology for not being forward after class, an apology for the awful outings, perhaps even an apology for making him fall in love with an engaged woman in the first place. She takes her phone from the pocket of her sweater and sends him a quick message asking for him to come back up.

“Ah. Is this…?” He feels the buzz in his pocket and pulls his smartphone in front of him. “…Yeah, it is.”

Akira shuffles himself out of the booth with a dreadful sense of duty, standing up and giving his guardian the closest equivalent to a smile he can bear. “Good luck.” Sojiro offers, still sat in the booth.

In case he teared up at all, Akira removes his glasses briefly and wipes his eyes with his sleeve. “Thank you. This might be our last, though.”

Akira is not sure what he expects when he reaches the top of the stairs, not like he could concentrate on one thought for very long in the first place currently. When he lifts his eyes after the last step, he sees Haru sat down at the end of his bed and her tear-stained sweater hung up on the chair nearest it. About as mild of a scenario it could have been, thankfully. He walks to the center of his room in uncomfortable, yet expected silence. She pats the mattress with her left hand after making sure in her head she meant it. Akira sits down there next to her, quietly awaiting for the conversation when she is ready.

“…I’m sorry about today…” She manages to say in between labored breaths.

“I think you’re the one owed an apology.” Akira mutters.

“Maybe so…” A shake of the head before a sigh. “He has just about everything. The only thing he needs now is a wife he can control. And I guess I’m the perfect target. I’m still powerless…”

Akira can see pools of tears in her eyes again.

“I’m so sorry, Akira-kun.”

He has no words. It just feels hopeless. He gives up on the words, opening his arms for her in fraught hope that he can do anything for her right now. Even if it is no use, at least he tried for one last hug. Haru had before resisted the temptation of returning his embrace, but finds herself unable to help falling in and wrapping her own arms tight around him, redeeming the affection from Akira she had failed to earn so many times.

“…I miss this…” She says without thought.

“Huh?” Akira stops in his tracks, entirely blindsided to hear her say so. The last two times he tried sharing an embrace with her, she resisted it. He had assumed that she must have not appreciated them as a means of comfort. And based in the assumption, he moved on and tried—without tons of success albeit—to console her with his words.

But he misses holding her, too. He misses the warm security, the softness of her hair, the unspoken harmony of their hearts. Until now he just figured hugs must have been bad medicine, but now he sees they both could have used it. It just feels like wasted time.

“I’m so selfish… I know I don’t deserve it.”

That word again, “selfish.” The last time they had coffee together, Haru asserted she had been selfish. At that point, he thought it a mystery she thought so, yet if his hunch is correct here, maybe she has just opened up on it a little bit. He presses for specifics. “How do you mean that?”

“…I’ve treated you so poorly…” She says as a tear rolls down. She somewhat expected that sentence alone would be enough, but when Akira just stares inquisitively back, she explains what she believes must be common sense. “…I burdened you with my troubles, kept you in the dark that I was still engaged, made you uncomfortable in front of Takakura-san, and even today with Sugimura-san… An-And all you’ve ever been to m-me is nice…” She shuts her eyes and a few more tears drop.

“Haru—“

“This can’t be what you expected from a relationship…!” She lets go of the embrace, interrupting to get across to him.

“…I didn’t confess to you because I wanted a relationship,” Akira states, now seeing he might be able to turn this around. “It was because I had feelings for you…” While true he had not expected things to play out how they did, he knew it all to be worth it for her.

“…E-Even if that’s true, Akira-kun, how can you still trust me after every self-centered thing I’ve done to you…?”

He sighs a patient breath. “Haru, you’re the most selfless person I know.” His eyes are gentle and sincere. “From finding Morgana, to gardening for the team, to worrying how your own marriage will affect your employees. That man wants you to believe you’re selfish and untrustworthy, but he’s a terrible liar.”

He is right. She knows he is right. Something visceral still feels wrong. “…But, what Sugimura-san said about y—“

“Sugimura doesn’t know a damn thing about me,” Akira interjects softly. “Not the way I trust you. Not the way I care about you.” He reaches out and lightly squeezes her left hand with both of his. “You know there’s nothing you’ve ever done to deserve being his sick idea of a wife.”

“Akira-kun…” Haru argues back just in the hope her cursed mindset is right at least somewhere. “…Everyone just tells me what I want to hear. I know you’re just being kind, but…I-I don’t want you to be kind if it isn’t the truth…”

“Then here’s the truth, Haru,” Akira says, folding his legs on the bed and facing her. His voice a gentle suggestion. “Please never forget this…”

He guides her head softly with his right hand and gently strokes her cheek with a somber gaze into those beautiful brown eyes he hates to see tears in. He takes a deep, shivering breath.

“Even if it feels like you’ve run out of allies…” An arm around her pulls her closer, and the hand on her cheek moves to lovingly cradle her nape. “… _I_ love you.”

He leans forward and presses his lips to hers with tenderness fit for royalty. Haru’s only thought would have been how little she deserved it if not for the spark that alighted inside her chest. Each second his lips are there it grows hotter, and her crushed soul gains life in its warmth. The more time passes, the more familiar it feels. It feels like how badly she fell for him as the mysterious leader of the Phantom Thieves, or their first cathartic embrace after the festival, or even how they would joyously tend to her vegetables together. It feels like his warmth. He pulls back and speaks from the heart again.

“Even if it feels like you’re the last person who deserves it…” He stares into her soul, and his eyes say the same thing he does. “…I _love_ you.”

A new, equally as gentle kiss reaches her lips. Haru can feel herself opening back up to him. The spark from before caught, igniting wherever it reaches and burning just as bright as the deepest feelings she knows she still harbors for him. She wants to lean into his lips, to grasp all of the power she came to know at his side, but is forced to wait when he draws away once more to speak what deep down she knew to be the truth all along.

“Even if it feels like people only bother because you’re an Okumura…” He pauses to lean in close. “…I love _you_.”

Before he can find her lips again, Akira feels a sudden force shove his body backwards onto his bed. The instant his head meets the mattress, Haru furiously smothers his lips with hers. It matters none that Akira is caught way the hell off guard by her, he abandons all rationale and acts with instinct, returning her ravenously affectionate attack without hesitation. Taking all of his heartfelt praise from before and each endless way he loves everything Haru is and saying it with each sure and feverish press into her lips. They break apart to breathe for only a fraction of a second so they may continue to lay siege on each other’s lips over again.

As their hands begin to explore—caressing each other’s sides, combing through their fluffy hair, and finally wrapping around the back of their partner—they desperately pull each other’s body closer to their own and lose all sense of anything but the wealth of passion and yearning and longing that has led them to this beautiful moment. It guides their desirous actions as the world around them reduces, leaving existence behind and rendering Leblanc all that remains.

Haru breaks from the kiss, panting heavily and frantically saying on the short exhales, “Iloveyou…Iloveyou…Iloveyousomuch…”

The sound of heavy breathing fills the room as they take a fleeting moment to look into each other’s eyes. Haru shivers at how gently his eyes look upon her as they quell every worry she ever had about their relationship. She must see them directly, she concludes, taking her right hand out from under Akira to remove the lenses from his face. She reaches over to the shelf on her right to stow them, then returning to gaze unobstructed back into those captivating and lovely grey eyes of his. The same hand comes to rest on his cheek and he can feel his sense of the world vanish at her touch. Leblanc and its attic fade, leaving them the last two people in the world. His mind is bereft of all but three—no, five words, and he whispers them to the only other human alive like she might forget them soon, too.

“I love you…so much.”

Their lips meet again with even greater urgency and force than before and he feels the hand slide under his back once more. Their bodies are already as firmly pressed together as possible, but all reasoning was left with the world behind them. All they need is the other closer and closer yet. Neither one feels the other could be too close ever again. The breaths they take are as short as their rapid heartbeats and the rewards for keeping up with the intensity grow by the second. The combination of the sweet, aggressive pulling with the caring, yet hungry mashing of lips is mind-numbingly divine, and no two other souls know each other better than theirs do right now.

She draws out one final extended kiss, savoring the powerful intimacy as their lips separate with the sweetest of sounds. Her eyes refuse to open until several seconds after their lips met last. When her eyelids do raise, Haru sees Akira’s eyes gently returning her gaze and those same lips she will never be able to get enough of curved into the most adorable smile she has yet seen.

Akira opens his mouth like he wants to ask her something, but when Haru looks over at his bedsheets and then back at him, he knows “Won’t you stay the night?” would be a redundant question.


	9. Chapter 9

The sun had only just peaked above the horizon when Haru gently woke up. Immediately it is apparent to her that this is no normal morning. Instead of waking to the jarring chime of an alarm to start her day, it was to the light chirps of the birds outside and the blissful soft breathing of her partner. As she opens her eyes, Haru notices something wonderful: She had fallen asleep—and woken up—in the warmth and comfort of Akira’s arms. She feels her whole body melt at the realization.

As she slowly lifts her head from its resting place on Akira’s chest, it strikes her as a thing of beauty to see her love, peacefully asleep in the dim light from the attic window. Haru could not resist planting several tender kisses on the face of the sweetest boy in the world. The gentle touches of her lips softly pull him from his slumber. A few waking groans form in his throat before he slowly opens his eyes to the beauty in front of him.

“Mmmh…good morning, sweetheart,” A sleepy Akira mumbles out. It takes him a yawn and a few glances around him to fully recognize the scenario he finds himself in—snugly wrapped in Haru’s loving arms with his own arms around her back. Once it all sets in, he feels his heart overflow with emotion. “I think I could get used to waking up like this.”

Haru feels her heartbeat speed up at his statement. Akira just put into words the same thing she was thinking subconsciously. “You too?” she asks almost on instinct. His kind silver eyes lock with hers.

“I mean, look at how happy we both are,” He points out with a small grin. A hand on her back moves to cup her adorably flushed cheek, guiding her already close face closer. His voice is all but a whisper when he says, “I wouldn’t trade the world for this.”

The arms that have spent the night enveloping the other tighten their hold as they share a new kiss. Far gentler than the ones last night, yet no less depictive of the deep affection they both reserve for one another. Not even half a day ago did either believe their relationship was anything but over. But now, locked in each other’s embrace and sharing every unspoken emotion with their lips, they could never imagine giving up on something so pure.

When their faces separate so they can breathe, Haru uses the moment to whisper “I love you,” against his lips. Her words become the catalyst for the next inevitable kiss, and their arms pull the other closer in the middle of it. Once they have drawn out each other’s air again and have to pause for the second time, Akira whispers “I love you, too,” into her lips with the opportunity. They kiss again. Every time their lips meet, all malice in the world fades, and when punctuated with the loving words of their dearest, everything that has ever happened in their lives has been for the better.

Once they break for the third time, Akira cups her cheek and rubs his thumb over it twice before reaching for his stowed phone on the windowsill to check the time. “Oh, wow. It’s early,” He sets his phone down onto the bedding and looks back up at Haru with a soft smile to ask a question. “How about I make some coffee for the two of us this morning?”

“I-I’d love that.” She replies bashfully. It almost feels like they are married.

Not before giving her a smooch on the forehead, Akira tilts his legs a little towards the inside of his bed to let her slide off of him before he swings his legs out and onto the floor. “I’ll go change in the bathroom downstairs, you come down when ready, alright?”

“A-Alright.”

Akira stands up out of bed with a push from his heels. Shortly thereafter, he turns around to cover Haru back up to keep her from losing any warmth and gives her a short peck on the lips for good measure.

Haru watches her handsome love retrieve his glasses from where she had set them on the shelf last night and walk across the attic for his clothes. He piles up a collection to change into and then winks at her as he takes his first step downstairs. As soon as his messy hair disappears beneath the railing, Haru feels like she could burst into tears at any moment.

Nearly every morning since the death of her father has been dreadful. She could never seem to fall asleep until hours after she had lain down in the first place, often giving her only a few hours of rest at its worst. On top of that, waking up meant facing the bleak reality of her newly tragic life. She never caught a break when it came to sleep. It being difficult to sleep meant she got little sleep, which in turn, meant difficulty waking up. Last night however, was the antithesis to every night since that awful October evening.

The loneliness of her father’s death and the mistrust of the company associates were replaced with the endless warmth of Akira’s loving arms holding her close. The stress of the company looking to her for action and the impending marriage were replaced with his tender voice, telling her everything is going to be okay and how much he loves her. The worries that reared their ugly heads when she was alone with her thoughts were replaced by the soft and soothing rise and fall of the chest that she laid on. And the dread she knew as waking up to a new day of her life was replaced by the pure joy she experiences whenever they spend time together, further heightened by the fact that they spent their slumber in each other’s embrace. The sensation is incredible, and it moves her nearly to tears to think about it.

Akira steps out of the Leblanc restroom newly dressed and turns the corner into the kitchen to start brewing for two. His mind wanders to last night; he cannot help but smile when he thinks about it. When Akira first realized he had feelings for her, he got to see glimpses of her joy, but too often was it stifled by what her father would do or had done recently. The sight of her being unhappy hurt him each time. Especially when their mission to change Okumura’s heart failed, he knew he could not sit back and watch someone as amazing as her suffer. Seeing her so happy last night was far more than enough for him, but when she says she loves him on top of it and makes sure he knows it beyond a doubt, no feeling in the world could ever compare. The woman he wants to spend forever with loves him back with all of her pure heart.

The water has brought itself to a boil and Akira fetches a cup for Haru’s coffee. He pours it with the most care he has ever used before tenderly laying it out on top of a white saucer at one of the counter seats. The “tink” of the cup touching the counter coincides with Haru’s first graceful step down the noisy Leblanc stairs. Haru is delighted to be greeted at the bottom of the steps with a tender smile from Akira and a hot cup of coffee just for her. “Thank you, Akira-kun.” She says while seating herself. “I hope I haven’t kept you waiting too long.”

“Not at all. We still have lots of time before class.” Akira gives her a sleepy grin as he grinds beans for his own cup. “Do you usually wake up this early?”

She sets down her cup after taking a sip and shakes her head. “To be honest, I haven’t been getting a lot of sleep lately. Last night was surely the best sleep I’ve had in a while…” She means that to be a somber sentence, but finds herself cracking a modest smile seeing how he had helped her with that. “…Um, thank you.”

Akira mimics her smile back at her. “Last night was wonderful.” He walks around the counter and plants a kiss on her pink cheek. “You’re always welcome here.”

Haru cannot help but giggle quietly to herself before getting back to the topic. “A-Anyway, I think part of the reason is, Takakura-san has been really pushing for us to start a new business venture soon.” Her smile drifts into a pensive look. “In particular, he’s adamant about a chain of low-cost, intimate cafes. Some employees don’t think it’s a good idea though, so they want me to step in and put a stop to it.”

Akira takes the seat next to her with his own cup of coffee, but sets it down immediately to place a comforting hand on her right leg.

“But I’m just a high schooler. There’s no way I can predict the success or failure of this idea…” She lets out a frustrated sigh. “…I’m just not sure what to do…”

“Well,” Akira mused sitting forward a bit, “what do _you_ want to do?”

“H-Huh…? That’s a good question…” She turns to stare into the detail of the wooden counter to gather her thoughts. “The idea does sound nice… The smell of a fresh cup of coffee always brings a smile…” She stops to heed that she had a fresh cup of coffee from hers truly in hand. “…to my face…”

Akira stops sipping from his cup and softly exhales through his nose and smiles at how thoughtful she always is.

“…And it certainly would be nice to be able to give that experience to as many people as possible...but I don’t think you can truly gain the same joy from the low-cost chain Takakura-san is suggesting. It’s hard to put it…”

“You think it’ll just be Okumura Foods’ Starvicks.”

He hit the mark. “Exactly!”

“You should tell him that.”

Haru is taken aback by the idea. “You really think he’d listen to a high schooler with no prior work experience?” She expects him to have an explanation as to why Takakura would consider humoring her, which is why it surprises her when he simply nods, seemingly more confident in her own ability than she. “A-Are you sure…?”

“Remember how you assumed the worst about yourself with me until last night, Haru?” The way she looks at him indicates she knows what he means. “I think you’re doing the same thing here.”

It strikes a chord to hear him say so. She pretends to mull it over in her head as if it made anything less than perfect sense. “Hm, I see…”

Haru takes a heavy breath through her nose as she sips coffee from her cup. The warmth spreads through her at the same rate newfound courage does. When she looks back at Akira, nothing of her face speaks anything but determination.

“I’ve been so afraid of him this whole time, but all I need to do is show him how I feel!” Each word is steadfast and firm. “I’ll make him see what I’m really thinking… and what’s important to me.”

“You can do it, Haru.” Akira nods back, her determination leaving a wide grin on his face.

“By refusing to trust Takakura-san, I was also shutting myself off from any hope of having him trust me…!”

“That ends today, doesn’t it?”

“That’s right. I’ll do my best, Akira-kun!”

He stands up from the chair to cup her face. “That’s my girl.” His following kiss makes certain how proud he is that she has finally taken charge of her life and Haru is all too happy to receive it.

At least until the lock on Leblanc’s door starts rattling. With as much regret as haste, they separate. Akira steps back and sits back down in his seat and Haru promptly sits forward again with an increasingly pink blush as they both attempt to play it cool for when Sojiro reenters his store.

The bell on the door chimes as it swings open. “Mornin’.” Sojiro greets them.

“Good morning.” They both say back rigidly.

“Well, sorry kid, I’m gonna have to kick you out,” He jeers at Akira with his silly grin plastered on, “Kissing the customers is against store policy.”

Haru hides her face behind her hands as Akira winces. “…Sorry about that, Sojiro…”

“Oh, don’t mind me. You too, little lady,” He laughs. “Young love’s a wonderful thing.”

With a tentative smile back, Akira drinks from his cup and Haru puts her hands in her lap. Their faces stayed red for a little bit after. Even if they did little more than change into clothes more comfortable than their uniforms and then cuddle each other to sleep last night, Sojiro knowing that they had slept with each other is still not quite flattering.

After too long of silence, Akira chuckles nervously to move on. “…Hey Sojiro?” His guardian raises an eyebrow and he continues, “Do you…happen to have a book on coffee-making?”

The way Akira looks at Haru when he asks tells him everything. “Oh! Are you getting into the roasting scene?” He looks at her to ask. She nods back enthusiastically and Sojiro turns to Akira to say with her confirmation, “There’s a whole bunch of books crammed away in the attic. One of them should be it.”

“Oh, right!” Akira recalls. He pats Haru’s shoulder as he gets out of his seat. “Be right back, sweetie.”

“Yeesh.” Sojiro half-complains as Akira runs upstairs. “A real overachiever, isn’t he, Haru-chan?”

“Oh?” She looks surprised.

“What is it?”

“You used my name…?”

“Well, I figure I won’t be seeing any less of you two around here. Might as well start now, yeah?” It makes Haru smile to think the future holds more mornings just like this. “No need to keep calling me ‘Sakura-san,’ either, y’hear? I’m just ‘Boss.’”

“Yes, Boss.” She nods to him and drinks some more coffee, feeling as warm from her cup as she does about everything this morning.

Quick footsteps downstairs reveal Akira with a tan colored book in hand. “Here you are, dear.” He says, placing it in front of her on the counter.

She brushes back some of her curly hair. “Thank you, sweetheart.” She studies the title before stowing it in her school bag. “We should get going soon, huh?”

“Good idea.” Akira looks at the wall clock to confirm.

She may have just spent a whole night in his embrace, but it still causes that familiar heat sensation in her face when he sticks out his hand for her to take. Akira learns that similar is true for him when his heart skips a beat at her fingers locking with his.

“Shall we, Akira-kun?” She asks cheerfully.

The color in her cheeks, the pep in her voice and her hand in his prove too tempting for Akira not to lean down and capture her lips with his own again. The most precious of little squeaks leaves Haru’s lips when he does, and his heart melts both at the sound and the sweet pressure she kisses him back with. Just a little reminder that she is every bit as in love as he is. At the point they have pulled back apart, Akira would have been embarrassed to learn just how bashful his smile was. “…I-I’m ready now.”

They leave Sojiro to his cafe with a wave from their free hand and turn from the door to take the subway to Shujin. It had been too long since the last pleasant commute they had together. But among feeling each other’s fingers in between their own, holding each other close in the crowded train cars and sharing smiles that practically scream how much they adore each other, the only thing wrong with this commute is that they reached Aoyama-Itchome too soon.


	10. Chapter 10

A cool breeze hits Akira’s brow when he opens the door to the roof. It refreshes him just as much as the absence of tension that had plagued both him and Haru when they would meet before. The air was liberated, and the smile on her face when she turns her head to greet him is the best confirmation that they have finally reached the same page. “What’s the plan today, sweetie?” He inquires.

“Well, first…” She shuffles up to him and swings her arms around him. “…I love you.”

“I love you, too, Haru,” He returns her embrace and plants a kiss to the top of her head. “Don’t you forget it.”

She hugs him a little tighter. “Never.” The two spend a few quiet moments holding each other. The same crisp breeze flows by and everything feels right with the world.

He kisses the top of her head again. “What’re you thinking about doing today?”

“Well,” She muses, stepping back while maintaining the embrace. “I forgot to tell you about something this morning. Could you help with the garden while I tell you?”

“Perfect,” Akira states with a smile. He lets go of her with one arm and Haru takes that hand to guide him to the planters. “What does my beautiful lady have for me today?”

His little compliment makes her chuckle before they kneel down to start checking the drainage of the planters. “I bought a mini roaster and a coffee mill the other day. At first I bought it just for myself, but I just thought of a way to make it more useful today…”

“Do explain.” An ever-coffee-intrigued Akira says.

“So, since this morning, I’ve been thinking of ways to show Takakura-san how I feel… Then, at third period, I realized that I could show it with this.” She states while pausing her motion to illustrate the point.

“You mean the soil?”

“Correct!” She giggles, returning to her task. “You see, the soil here is a special mix I made with a few different types of fertilizer. It’s very high quality. It’s soft, it’s warm, it has good drainage and it’s full of nutrients.” She looks back down at it. “This… This is the magic item I need.”

“Hm…” Akira muses. “…I guess I’m a bit lost on how…”

“Well, I’m not very good at expressing myself with words. Just thinking about it makes my heart race. But I’ve been pouring my heart and soul into this soil for months now; it knows exactly how I feel,” She looks over at Akira who she is happy to see is listening intently. “That’s why I’m going to use it to grow coffee plants. Soon once they’re ready, I’m going to make coffee with the beans.”

“Ohhh, I get it,” Akira says with revelation spelled out on his face. “He’ll see your dedication.”

“Right!” She nods. “Honestly, just raising those plants has taken considerable effort. I’ve checked on them every day, given them water, put them in the sun. All of that love has found its way into the beans themselves. Combining that with the nurturing warmth of this soil should give me the perfect way to convey how I feel.”

“That’s pretty clever, Haru.” He nods with admiration.

Haru ponders to herself in silence for a moment. “I wonder what Takakura-san will think when he tries it…”

“If nothing else, it’ll help him understand you.”

“Yes! I fully believe that,” She giggles. “By the way, I’ve thought about it some more and… I wouldn’t necessarily be opposed to Takakura-san’s idea. If that’s what management decides to do, I won’t get in their way.”

He nods to her again, but she shakes her head, refusing to make her statement a pure concession. “At the same time, I can’t support them if their main goal is to deceive. People don’t think of Okumura Foods very highly right now. So I’m afraid management is trying to use this new chain to sneak under the radar rather than rebuild our image. Of course, I understand how hard it is to rid yourself of a negative label.” Another shake of the head. “But if they want to fool people with a low-quality product instead of regaining their trust, I will proudly oppose them.”

He feels his smile naturally widen. “You’re amazing, Haru.”

“Well, naturally. I’m a heroine of justice, after all.” She mimes pinching the brim of Noir’s hat and giggles. “Just kidding.”

Akira feels the fluttering of his heart and swears she has no clue how adorable she is.

“You know, Akira-kun, it’s so reassuring to have you here. It’s because of you that I was able to cultivate this soil. And because of you that I have the courage to tell Takakura-san how I feel.” She smiles while closing her eyes. “Speaking of which, um…do you think you could be there when I do it? As long as you’re with me, I won’t be afraid to say what I’m thinking.”

“After all that, how could I say no?” Akira says without skipping a beat.

“Perfect! I’ll let you know when I have a meeting scheduled,” She says cheerfully while standing up. “Oh, while we’re still talking about coffee…”

“Yes?”

“I think I can finish that book from Boss today.” Haru walks to her school bag and pulls out a notepad, pen and the book. “Would you…like to join me?”

“I’d love to.” Silently impressed by her note-taking, he accepts.

“Um… should I pull up some chairs, or…?”

“I have an idea.” Akira states a bit excitedly. He walks over to the fencing on the side of the roof and sits up against it and pats the ground in front of him invitingly once situated. Haru takes up his offer with a smile, making her way over and sitting down in front of him. Akira wraps his arms around the newly seated Haru, who sighs contently as she flips open the notepad and sets the pen on top of it. As he supplies a kiss to the side of her head, she flips the pages to the bookmark and continues from where she left off.

For how informative Sojiro’s book was, it was still a short read. Something even the busiest of people could easily complete in two days at a slow pace. Its brevity combined with the breaks Haru would take to jot down something she found interesting or important allowed plenty opportunities for her to lean back into Akira’s chest to share quick, and sometimes not-so-quick kisses with him.

As she neared the last page, she readied her bookmark, taking in the final passage of the book—an inspiring anecdote about the impact of coffee in the author’s life. At the last word, she sticks her bookmark in between the cover and the last page and proudly clamps the book shut. As she sets it to the right of their legs, she looks back at Akira who asks her, “How was it?”

“Very good! I knew about how different beans or grind made a different flavor, but I never expected things like how pouring faster or slower, or priming a filter altered the taste.” She recalls from writing down in her notes. “How about you? You were reading the last half with me too, right?”

Akira laughs to himself. “This book and Sojiro have so much in common I’m surprised it didn’t start saying how brewing can, ahem…” He puts on his best Sojiro impression. “…Woo the ladies.”

She giggles at the imitation before playfully jabbing back, “It certainly doesn’t hurt.”

He leans in while hugging her a little tighter. “You sure you’re not just crazy for me?”

“Heehee. That too.”

“Good,” He says with a kiss to the side of her head. “The feeling’s mutual, sweetie.”

Haru breaks from his hold briefly to spin herself around, facing him directly. She sees the admiration sparkle in his eyes as he places one hand on her hip and the other on her cheek. The soft breeze passes them by again and Akira mouths, “Love you.” to her. With one arm around him and a hand on the back of his head, she pulls herself forward into his gentle kiss.

It seems like the perfect way to end a perfect day. Waking up with the other in their arms, making up for lost time, setting up a clever plan for Haru, spending time being close, and now a heartfelt kiss. When they break apart to look at each other again, they know eventually they will have to go back home and the day will end. Though, as their lips find each other’s again, whenever “eventually” comes is anyone’s guess.


	11. Chapter 11

Since the morning when Haru messaged him about having set up a meeting with the company president for later in the day, Akira has had little else on his mind. Even now as they exit the station closest to her house, he plays out the conference in his head and hopes his inclusion ultimately turns out for the best.

It helps none that Haru is quite nervous about the whole thing as well. Between hoping Akira’s presence does not put Takakura on edge, keeping the points she wishes to make clear straight in her head and making sure she can make the freshest cup of coffee she can for him, she feels she can only hope that things go well today.

In a more relaxed setting, Akira might have expressed his surprise at the size of the Okumura residence, but he keeps it to himself while he follows her into the house. After nearly forgetting in the first place, Haru quickly removes her shoes and haphazardly lays them to the side of the foyer while Akira lags behind a bit doing similarly.

After setting aside his shoes, he follows after her into the kitchen, neat and spotless save for the collection of coffee beans she harvested in the morning laying on the counter. She scrambles in the most orderly way Akira has seen through a knee-height cupboard to find a kettle for boiling, soon finding one of adequate size. Wasting no time, she places the kettle under running water to fill it and crosses the kitchen to retrieve a coffee bean grinder in the short time in between. Placing the beans and the newly acquired mill close to the stove, she nearly allows herself a breather before recalling that the kettle should be near full by now, and moves hastily to cut the water flow off.

“Okay, okay, okay…” She repeats to herself, carrying the kettle to the stove.

“If you need it…” Akira can read the distress on her face and offers support. “…I can help you.”

“Please don’t.” A sharp decline. “I have to make this myself.”

“Okay, just…” Akira feels a twinge of guilt. “…tell me if I can do anything. Even in the background.”

“Well…” She takes a glace around herself and sees just how much she is trying to do all at once. “…actually… could you set out the saucers at the table?”

Akira sighs with relief and smiles. “Gladly.”

“They should be in that cupboard,” She points overhead and to his left. He opens it up and gathers three. “Over by that couch, please.”

With the small plates in hand, he nods to her and makes his way towards the living room while she pours her beans into the grinder. Akira sets down each saucer at the coffee table, leaving two to be reachable from the black leather couch and one reachable from the single swivel chair where he imagines Takakura will sit. When he lifts his head to check the table composition once more, he catches a figure turn the corner out of the corner of his eye. It confuses more than surprises him to see, and he looks back towards the kitchen to affirm that Haru had not moved at all. Someone else was in the house too.

Grounded to satisfaction, Haru prepares a filter and reminds herself to prime it in the way Sojiro’s book recommended. As Akira returns to the kitchen, she finally takes out small cups and sets one underneath the siphon. He stands clear of her way when she takes the kettle of boiling water off the stove, holding off the question about who else is among them until she is done pouring.

She decides to make the first cup her own, feeling she poured that one out a bit incorrectly. The next two she feels better about, designating those to be for Akira and Takakura. The smell of coffee begins to fill the kitchen and Akira cracks a smile at it. “Those look good.”

She lets a sigh escape. “Thank you. That’s reassuring.” Even though Akira can tell she is far from confident, he still knows she did a good job with it. He rubs her shoulder once before Haru suggests they move into the living room to wait. He agrees and picks out his cup from the three.

With two cups of coffee in hand, Haru takes great caution to ensure she does not spill from either one. Once there, she daintily sets her and Takakura’s cup down onto the saucers, staring at them to make sure they stay in place for good measure afterwards. She seats herself on the leather sofa to ponder a moment before Akira reminds himself that he saw someone move earlier. “Oh, Haru. Is there someone else here right now?”

“Huh? Someone else…?” She trails off briefly. “…Oh, no!”

She bolts up from her seat and calls out, “Michibayashi-san!” running to the stairwell.

From the top of the stairs a feminine voice calls back, “Haru-san?”

“You and the maids are dismissed for today. I have an important meeting.”

Akira chuckles to himself that he worried about who he saw earlier, apparently it was only a maid.

“I’m terribly sorry for the short notice, but I insist.” Haru bows whilst apologizing.

“I understand. I’ll let everyone know, Haru-san.” Michibayashi says back.

She returns to her seat, suddenly feeling mentally exhausted. “How did I forget of that…?” she mumbles to herself. Her mind jumps to the meeting ahead, which after feeling entirely remiss only points to going downhill. A soft placing of a hand on her right leg startles her a bit, but it calms her down to see that it was Akira.

“Hey, sweetheart. I’m here for you.”

She allows herself to laugh just a bit through an exhale. “Right. I’ll be okay.” She rubs his hand back.

“Don’t forget to breathe, and believe in yourself. You’ll do great.”

Haru mouths, “Thank you.” and presses a kiss to his cheek.

It takes another minute of waiting, but Haru receives a message indicating Takakura had arrived at the nearest station. She stands herself up to go and welcome him in once she sees it, walking over to the front door and opening it to look out. Takakura walks into view a few seconds later. “Hello, Haru-chan.” He greets when he notices her.

“Good day, Takakura-san.”

“I saw the maids on my way from the station,” Takakura wastes no time recalling. “Was there a reason?”

Takakura’s observational skills are on full display and Haru starts to worry again that he may see right through her intent to meet with him. “…I dismissed them for our meeting.”

“Ah, I see.” Takakura comments, removing his shoes.

She leads them into the living room and motions Takakura towards the swivel chair. He spots Akira on the couch and makes a small noise, almost like he might have said, “Oh,” if he did not have complete control of his jaw. “Kurusu-kun, right?”

“Yes sir.” He affirms.

Takakura seats himself in prefect posture in front of the two, “So, you’d like me to try this?”

“Please, if only a taste.” Haru insists after sitting down. “This wasn’t made with particularly expensive beans, nor was it brewed by any sort of coffee expert.”

He pinches the handle to the cup and lifts it to his face in a stiff, flawless arc. “Hm… This flavor… Interesting…” He mumbles to himself in evaluation, making notes in his head stoically before setting the cup back down in the same arc. “Anyway, what is it you wanted to discuss with me? Does it concern the company?”

“My apologies for bothering you at such a busy time.” A tentative lead-off.

“It’s not a problem.” He shakes his head.

“The truth is…after my father’s passing, I couldn’t bring myself to trust anyone at Okumura Foods.”

“I see.”

“That includes you, Takakura-san.”

He shifts his gaze into his cup of coffee. “That’s quite cruel…”

“…My apologies. Now then, what I wanted to discuss is…” Haru feels the headwinds of the conversation blowing the wrong way and looks Akira’s direction for help.

Quietly happy Haru decided to lean on him for some support on her own, Akira flashes a look at his coffee in between looking at her. The message clicks.

“…Um, Takakura-san, what do you think of that coffee? I grew the beans in my own garden, and even handled the preparation.”

“What…?” Takakura’s stoicism falters present some surprise.

“I honestly don’t believe it’s a particularly good cup of coffee…” She concedes. “…but I put my heart into making it. That’s why I asked you here today, Takakura-san.”

Takakura leans back down and precisely mimics the same motion he did a few moments ago to taste his drink anew. “Hm.”

“I’m not suggesting we need to put this level of effort into the Okumura Foods chain, and I’m not suggesting we should put a halt to the plan either,” She exhales through the nose. “However, I won’t let my company serve low quality food to our customers.”

“You know…” Takakura begins, in an entirely new headspace. “…this is very similar to the coffee your grandfather used to make.”

“What…?”

“I used to be a regular at his cafe. That’s actually how I ended up joining the company to begin with,” A mild grin grows on his face in remembrance. “To be honest, I was strongly opposed to closing the cafe…but I didn’t have the power to make that decision at the time.”

Both intrigued and a bit confused, Haru leans herself forward to take in the story.

“I was planning on naming the new chain after his shop to make up for that, though. I’m going to create a business that is loved by customers and employees alike, just as his cafe was.” He nods to himself. “A place where people can come to drink in the subtle joys of life.”

“Is… that so…?” The image Haru had constructed of Takakura—ruthlessly efficient and unbending—is shattered.

“Haru-chan, I believe you have every right to distrust us. After all, things would have turned out differently if only someone had chosen to stand up to your father…” He gives the unfortunate statement a moment of silence. “Be that as it may, I can truly sense the passion you put into this coffee. It seems you really are like your grandfather.”

“I… I’m sorry for being so rude…” A sense of guilt crawls up her spine for believing the worst about him.

“I must apologize as well, for encouraging you to abandon your shares. I thought they would be a burden to you, but I was clearly wrong.” The authority in Takakura’s voice is all but gone in favor of a soundly compassionate tone. “Haru-chan, if you’d like, why don’t you take part in our next company meeting?”

“Me?”

“The truth is, the rumors of my being pleased at your father’s death were troubling, to say the least. I understand not everyone agrees with the vision I have for this company…but I’ve spent great effort struggling against our board of directors to push Okumura Foods back on the right path. What I need is to communicate that thought as clearly as possible… Just as you did with this coffee. Do you think you could assist me in accomplishing that?”

“W-Well…um…”

When she turns her head and locks eyes with Akira, she sees his soft smile encouraging her and she wonders how she ever doubted herself. “Give it all you’ve got, Haru.” Akira’s words vanquish the last of the fears in her soul.

“O-Okay…!” She leans forwards and folds her hands. “Um, I would be glad to join you!”

“Excellent. Your grandfather would be proud…” Takakura proclaims. “…as would your father.”

Haru breathes a cathartic sigh of relief. For everything wrong about her father and their relationship, hearing his right-hand-man say her father would approve of her right now is validation she is happy to receive.

“Ah, and… it seems I made yet another misunderstanding.”

Haru tilts her head, which leads him to his point. “I was under the impression you were quite thrilled about the arrangement with Sugimura-kun… That is why I was so insistent on hurrying the marriage. I wanted you to have all the support you needed…but it appears as though you prefer the young man next to you instead.”

At his speculation, Haru gasps in shock and their eyes meet in haste. The thing Haru was most afraid of going wrong just happened: Takakura found out about them. Her eyes look of horror at Akira’s as she racks her brain thinking of a way to discount his statement.

Yet when Haru stops to notice his expression, she sees he is entirely calm, happy even. Takakura’s words strike a wholly different chord with him. Akira gently smiles at her and in a move that surprises her more than it does Takakura, he reaches an arm around her and pulls her in. With the same soft expression, he turns to him and asks, “How long have you known?”

“I had a hunch when I saw you two out for coffee.” Takakura shares a rare look of humility.

“Y-You did?” Haru stutters, her mortification becoming slight embarrassment.

“It took me until later in the day to notice, but I realized I had never heard your thoughts on the marriage before.” Takakura calls on his memory. “Plus, I realized I never really saw you quite as happy around Sugimura-kun as I saw you were with him.”

“Y-Yeah.” She affirms with a pinkness in her cheeks.

“Be honest, Haru-chan. What are your thoughts on Sugimura-kun?”

Her eyes clench shut at the question. She considers a milquetoast condemnation of Sugimura through her head before she feels Akira’s hand rubbing her arm as she deliberates. She decides to be fully honest. “I can’t stand him.”

“Mm.” Takakura mumbles. It was worse than he thought.

“He acts like he owns me. He tells me the whole company hates me. He’s hurt me physically. He’s harassed me,” She breathes out heavily. “I was never interested in being his wife in the first place. I can hardly bear the thought now.”

“Thank you for your honesty, Haru-chan. Let me set the record: As the head of the company, you’re a strong, kind, and mature woman. I apologize for not coming to see that sooner. I support you if you don’t wish to get married.”

“But… Sugimura-san said you’ve already booked out a wedding hall for us…”

“I did?” Takakura laughs. “I would have told you by now if I had.”

“Oh…?” His answer feels off somehow. “…E-Even then, what about the contract he made with my father…? He said the reparations clause will be immense if I refuse the marriage…”

“I haven’t heard a thing about this contract. Have you seen the document?”

“Huh…?” Haru realizes the only abnormality is that this is the only time today Takakura has not been able to directly identify what she means; he is being truthful. “Well, now that you mention it… no, I haven’t.”

“And neither your father nor our lawyers ever mentioned it to me. It seems he was lying.”

“Rat bastard.” Akira mutters underneath his breath.

“He may have had the help of particular people within the company with those lies, too. You see, those who don’t agree with my vison brought him into meetings with the hope that he would eventually take over. Being the son-in-law to the late CEO would increase his standing significantly.” A disgusted wave of realization passes over the couple. “However, we don’t need a politician in our midst, particularly considering the humble roots of our corporation.”

“I agree.” She states.

“As for the marriage cancellation, I’ll handle it. It may take some time, but it will be done. I promise.”

“Thank you…!” She says ecstatically.

Takakura lifts his coffee up again to finish what he has left. “May I send you the details of the meeting I want you to attend? Your endorsement will be enough to effectuate the groundwork for my plan, I believe.”

“Please do.”

Takakura nods with a grin and pulls his phone from his suit jacket. Haru leans her head just slightly into Akira. A wordless thank you that he accepts when he rubs her arm in return. She looks back down at the cups of coffee on the table and notices hers is the only untouched one. In fact, hers is the only one with coffee in it in the first place, both Takakura and Akira had finished theirs.

“Okay, Haru-chan. You should have an email with the location and itinerary of our meeting.” He stands up from his seat. “I look forward seeing you articulate your vision.”

“Thank you very much, Takakura-san!”

“No, thank you, Haru-chan. Both for your input and the superb coffee.”

“Told you it was good.” Akira nudges her with a laugh.

“Well, Haru-chan, Kurusu-kun, if you’ll excuse me.”

Takakura exits the living room, gathers his shoes at the foyer and leaves the residence. At the sound of the front door shutting, Haru exhales heartily in the knowledge she is no longer an engaged woman. “It’s over,” She turns to look him in the eye and exclaims, “He’s gone, Akira-kun!”

“You know what that means, right?” She has an idea what he means, but she shakes her head to let him answer. Akira places a hand on the back of her head and declares, “You’re all mine now, sweetheart.”

Before he has even pulled her in for the celebratory kiss, she swings her arms around him and plunges into the ecstasy of sharing affection with him. Her lips slamming against his displays an eagerness that melts his heart and gets him to blush too, even if he has to cup her face to keep her from sliding past his lips entirely.

Though, while his hand is there on her cheek, he feels a wetness gather at his thumb—tears. He pulls back gently and wipes away the streams leaving her eyes. With a patient smile and soft voice, he asks, “Is something wrong, my love?”

“N-No—it’s just—I…” She sniffles, “…I’ve dreamed of this...”

Akira wipes another tear from her cheek while she continues.

“I almost gave up on falling in love…b-but then I met my hero—my soulmate.” Haru reaches up to place both hands on Akira’s face. “He found me at my lowest point and told me he wanted to help. And even when things took a turn for the worst, he told me he’d stay by my side and help make things right. I fell in love; I mean, how couldn’t I?”

Haru leans into his chest and bawls.

“I’m so happy you’re in my life, Akira-kun.”

Akira brings her in close to which she hugs him tighter in return. He strokes her hair to the rhythm of her breathing, and she swears no other action on earth comforts her like it. Little kisses are peppered on the top of her head and her heart flares with glee to receive them.

“Haru…” Fighting back tears of his own, he speaks into the top of her head, “…as long as I live, I love you.”

He spends a patient moment in silence, waiting for her crying to quiet so that she can hear every bit of praise he has for her.

“You’re a constant inspiration. The sweetest and toughest girl I know. I used to think I had some pretty awful luck, but when I hold you like this, I know I’ve never had a day of misfortune.”

Haru coos into his uniform while embracing him even tighter. Akira allows himself to lean back into the couch, planting another kiss on the top of her head before laying fully down with her. Her sobs fade into the peaceful atmosphere and the room fills to the brim with incredible shared passion. The blissful new reality of Haru’s life settles over her: she has the boy of her dreams in her arms, and there is nowhere else he would rather be.


	12. Chapter 12

Back in the swing of meeting each other up on the roof after school again, Haru and Akira spend little time before getting to the point. The meeting Haru had scheduled with Takakura had passed, bringing with it a lot of good news to speak of, which she wanted him to hear about as well. Not long after they have greeted each other, she says, “So I went over to the company the other day,” and asks, “Are you free to speak today?”

“Of course.” Akira happily affirms her.

“Wonderful! I have a great deal I’d like to tell you,” She explains cheerfully. “Can we talk over some coffee at your place?”

“Why my place?” Akira posits with an air of playfulness.

“You know…” Haru replies bashfully, averting her eyes.

“I really don’t.”

“…S-Some alone time and… um, kisses…?”

“We kiss all the time, though.”

“…Oh…” She looks to the ground, dejected “…i-if you think it’s too much, we don’t have t—” Her sentence is cut off when his hand cups her face and he leans down to connect their lips.

He pulls back with a cheeky grin, his hand still on her face. “And I wouldn’t change a thing.”

“Don’t scare me like that…” She looks up at him with puppy-dog eyes.

“Aww… I’m sorry.” Akira feels like an arrow has been shot through his heart. “I honestly just meant to tease you a little. I didn’t think th—” She yanks his lapels down inwards to kiss him on her own. 

The expression on his face once they separate is pricelessly incredulous, which Haru graces with a mischievous giggle. Akira forgets sometimes that her shyness can become aggressive passion when she wants it to be. He can only think of one word fit for this scenario.

“…Touché.”

The couple agrees to meet each other at the school’s gate and take the subway back to Leblanc together. Once there, Akira orders themselves two cups of coffee and they take the center booth to sit at. Sojiro delivers the cups to each of them, enjoying seeing how happy they both are in each other’s presence once again.

Haru cannot help but include a compliment with her first sip. “My, this has such profoundly bold flavor.”

“I’m glad you like it, Haru-chan,” Sojiro returns a smile from behind the counter. “How was the book?”

“I really enjoyed reading it. I even made a cup using its advice and Akira-kun said it was good!” Akira confirms her statement with a nod to his guardian. “Would you like it back now?”

“Keep it, keep it. The world needs more good roasters.”

“Thank you, Boss,” A thankful smile forms of her lips. “I’ll always have an urge to drink a fresh cup of your coffee, however.”

“Heh, that near brings a tear to my eye,” Sojiro remarks. “You’re heading up to Akira’s room, right? Feel free to take it upstairs whenever.”

“Thank you, I will.”

Akira and Haru enjoy their coffee, taking time to savor the taste even while they both are ready to spend time alone. Though when the point comes they have finished drinking, they return Sojiro the empty saucers and take matters upstairs hand-in-hand. Now in his room, Akira turns to Haru.

“So…” Akira begins, “…you said you wanted some kisses?”

“Mmhm.” She replies with a little chuckle.

He lifts her into the air with an “Eeyup,” as he heaves her up. Haru starts to giggle as her feet leave the ground and she swings her arms around the back of his head. An aggressive kiss hits her lips and she has trouble stifling her laugh in order to return it properly, letting it seep past her lips even while Akira’s lips are on hers. Of course, this makes Akira smile against her lips, too. Soon they both pause just to laugh at the poor, yet still undeniably jovial start to their make out session.

“You sound happy.” Akira comments as his laughter quiets.

“What can I say…?” She says, still giggling lightly, “…You do this to me…”

Her words set the mood well. The stare into each other’s eyes that follows suit and the tender kindness on display from Haru’s smile is more than enough motivation for Akira to close the distance between their lips again. Even locked in a deepening kiss, the small actions are not lost on each other. Haru’s embrace comes to include her legs around Akira’s waist while Akira softly rubs her back. The intensity of emotion for each other fills the room, leaving both of them craving more.

“…You’re so sweet.” She mumbles in between kisses. His heart flutters.

He pulls back slightly. “Look who’s talking,” he replies. Her response is to push his head back into the kiss, which he accepts as her answer. She runs a hand through his hair, playing with the fizzy strands while her heart melts over his kind words. The same pure feeling washes over Akira, who takes a breather to make it known to her, “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” The pause in the action allows Haru time to comment on their situation. “I still have yet to tell you what I wanted to, huh?”

“I guess so.”

“Lay me down,” Her voice quiets with each word. “I want to tell you all about it.”

A soft smile from Akira precedes him carrying her over to his mattress to set her down. He makes sure to take great care in lowering her. Once her body reaches it, Haru rolls to her side on the plush surface, turning to stare up at her caring boyfriend. Akira soon settles himself on the bed, laying on his side to face her as well. He reaches a gentle hand up to her face and finds himself staring back at her. Their eyes say the same thing to each other, to which they silently agree to postpone the talking; they clearly both need more affection. As their arms naturally settle around each other again, Haru pulls his head closer to lay kisses all over his face. Akira happily allows his face to be taken over, leaving his hands to stroke her lovely hair in the meantime.

Out of the need to take a breath, Haru backs away after her barrage of kisses. The moment she does, Akira pulls her head to his chest and similarly provides kisses to her head. She strengthens her embrace of him and leans in, giggling with glee for each time his lips meet her hair.

Akira lengthens his last few kisses, ending the last one by keeping his lips on her head for a couple of seconds and ending it with an audible kissing noise followed by a chuckle. She peaks up at him from the height of his chest, looking into his eyes once more. Akira lightly laughs, “You wanted to say something?”

She chuckles in return. “Yes. I was finally able to convey my feelings during the company meeting. Not just about the new chain, but about the future of the company…and even about Father,” Akira gives her a little tighter of a squeeze in their current cuddle, knowing how important her father is to everything she has been through. “I think my presence angered some people at first, but in the end they all listened to my thoughts.”

“You’ve done great, Haru.” He presses his lips to her head, to which she kisses his jaw in response. They find the previous storm of affection has not so much ceased as it has intertwined itself with the conversation. Neither of them mind it at all, however.

“All that nervousness from before was exhausting. I’ve had diplomatic dealings with VIPs before, but I’ve never once spoken my true feelings,” She pauses to share a short kiss with him. “That aside, after talking with management, I’ve decided to let them handle Okumura Foods.”

“Mm.” Akira says with a little surprise.

“Mmhm. It’s simply not something I would have been able to supervise on my own. And after their sincere acceptance of the public’s criticism, I felt it was okay to trust them.” She sees Akira nod and continues. “As for my future goals, I’m interested in opening a small private cafe after college. Everything will be homegrown from the coffee to the salad. I want to set my own standards.”

She sees a grin form on his face, a huge confidence boost to her.

“It’ll be a shop that people love, like Grandfather’s… and like this place. What do you think?”

“That sounds amazing.” An enthused Akira confirms her.

“I’m so glad you think so!” She kisses his cheek. “In that case, I’d like you to be my first customer.”

“Who says I have to be a customer?” Akira retorts, still smiling. “In fact, don’t you think little mom and pop shops are nice?”

A new and heavy blush covers her face. “H-How do you mean that?” She asks bashfully.

With a small smirk on his face, he challenges the question, “I think you know exactly what I mean.”

“I st-still want to hear you say it…”

Akira leans down to whisper close to her ear, speaking from the bottom of his heart, “I’d love to be your husband by the time it’s open.”

Haru nestles her head in the crook of his neck and makes a cooing noise. Despite her current grip being the most she can muster, she tries to hug him even harder, reveling in how loved she feels by everything he says and does.

He rubs her back again, further heightening the pure joy rushing through every part of her being. “Akira-kun…” The life in her voice makes his heart soar. “…I’m so deeply, so helplessly in love…”

“You’re not alone, Haru,” Akira says. “You never have to be alone again.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please let me know of spelling/grammar errors or recurring literary devices if you happen upon them.


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